Studies of RockyMountainarea petroleum product availability with reduced refining capacity in Petroleum Administration for Defense IV (PADD IV, part of the RockyMountainarea) have been performed with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Refinery Yield Model, a linear program which has been updated to blend gasolines to satisfy constraints on emissions of nitrogen oxides and winter toxic air pollutants. The studies do not predict refinery closures in PADD IV. Rather, the reduced refining capacities provide an analytical framework for probing the flexibility of petroleum refining and distribution for winter demand conditions in the year 2000. Industry analysts have estimated that, for worst case scenarios, 20 to 35 percent of PADD IV refining capacity could be shut-down as a result of clean air and energy tax legislation. Given these industry projections, the study scenarios provide the following conclusions: The RockyMountainarea petroleum system would have the capability to satisfy winter product demand with PADD IV refinery capacity shut-downs in the middle of the range of industry projections, but not in the high end of the range of projections. PADD IV crude oil production can be maintained by re-routing crude released from PADD IV refinery demands to satisfy increased crude oil demands in PADDs II (Midwest), III (Gulf Coast), and Washington. Clean Air Act product quality regulations generally do not increase the difficulty of satisfying emissions reduction constraints in the scenarios.

The RockyMountain natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline was born as a result of major producible gas finds in the RockyMountainarea after gas deregulation. Gas discoveries in the overthurst area indicated considerable volumes of NGL would be available for transportation out of the area within the next 5 to 7 years. Mapco studied the need for a pipeline to the overthrust, but the volumes were not substantial at the time because there was little market and, consequently, little production for ethane. Since that time crude-based products for ethylene manufacture have become less competitive as a feed product on the world plastics market, and ethane demand has increased substantially. This change in the market has caused a major modification in the plans of the NGL producers and, consequently, the ethane content of the NGL stream for the overthrust area is expected to be 30% by volume at startup and is anticipated to be at 45% by 1985. These ethane volumes enhance the feasibility of the pipeline. The 1196-mile RockyMountain pipeline will be installed from the existing facility in W. Texas, near Seminole, to Rock Springs, Wyoming. A gathering system will connect the trunk line station to various plant locations. The pipeline development program calls for a capacity of 65,000 bpd by the end of 1981.

Plans to expand the western grid are now underway. Bringing power from low-cost remote resources--including wind--to load centers could reduce costs for all consumers. But many paths appear to be already congested. Locational marginal price-based modeling is designed to identify the most cost-effective paths to be upgraded. The ranking of such paths is intended as the start of a process of political and regulatory approvals that are expected to result in the eventual construction of new and upgraded lines. This paper reviews the necessary data and analytical tasks to accurately represent wind in such modeling, and addresses some policy and regulatory issues that can help with wind integration into the grid. Providing wind fair access to the grid also (and more immediately) depends on tariff and regulatory changes. Expansion of the RockyMountainArea Transmission Study (RMATS) study scope to address operational issues supports the development of transmission solutions that enable wind to connect and deliver power in the next few years--much sooner than upgrades can be completed.

While the slopes of the present-day Colorado RockyMountains are characterized by large stands of subalpine and montane conifers, the Rockies of the late glacial looked dramatically different. Specifically, pollen records suggest that during the late glacial, Artemisia and Gramineae predominated throughout the mountains of Colorado. At some point between 11,000 and 10,000 B.P., however, both Artemisia and grasses underwent a dramatic decline, which can be identified in virtually every pollen diagram produced for Colorado mountain sites, including Como Lake (Sangre de Cristo Mountains), Copley Lake and Splains; Gulch (near Crested Butte), Molas Lake (San Juan Mountains), and Redrock Lake (Boulder County). Moreover, the same pattern seems to hold for pollen spectra derived for areas adjacent to Colorado, including at sites in the Chuska Mountains of New Mexico and in eastern Wyoming. The implications of this consistent finding are compelling. The closest modem analogues to the Artemisia- and Gramineae-dominated late-glacial Colorado Rockies are found in the relatively arid northern Great Basin, which suggests that annual precipitation was much lower in the late-glacial southern RockyMountains than it was throughout the Holocene.

Historical records for produced water data were collected from multiple sources, including Amoco, British Petroleum, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, United States Geological Survey (USGS), Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission (WOGC), Denver Earth Resources Library (DERL), Bill Barrett Corporation, Stone Energy, and other operators. In addition, 86 new samples were collected during the summers of 2003 and 2004 from the following areas: Waltman-Cave Gulch, Pinedale, Tablerock and Wild Rose. Samples were tested for standard seven component "Stiff analyses", and strontium and oxygen isotopes. 16,035 analyses were winnowed to 8028 unique records for 3276 wells after a data screening process was completed. [Copied from the Readme document in the zipped file available at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/Software/database.html] Save the Zipped file to your PC. When opened, it will contain four versions of the database: ACCESS, EXCEL, DBF, and CSV formats. The information consists of detailed water analyses from basins in the RockyMountain region.

The objective of the interim response action at the motor pool area is to mitigate the threat of releases of TRCLE. The proposal IRA will consist of the installation of a vapor extraction system to remove and treat the soil contamination at an identified source of TRCLE at the motor pool. A ground water extraction and treatment system will be installed to contain the TRCLE plume emanating from the area. This decision document provides summaries of: (1) alternative technologies considered; (2) significant events leading to the initiation of the IRA; (3) the IRA project; and (4) applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements, standards, criteria, and limitations (ARAR's) associated with the program.

Comparisons are made between the post-sunrise breakup of temperature inversions in two similar closed basins in quite different climate settings, one in the eastern Alps and one in the RockyMountains. The small, high-altitude, limestone sinkholes have both experienced extreme temperature minima below -50°C. On undisturbed clear nights, temperature inversions reach to 120 m heights in both sinkholes, but are much stronger in the drier RockyMountain basin (24K versus 13K). Inversion destruction takes place 2.6 to 3 hours after sunrise and is accomplished primarily by subsidence warming associated with the removal of air from the base of the inversion by the upslope flows that develop over the sidewalls. Differences in inversion strengths and post-sunrise heating rates are caused by differences in the surface energy budget, with drier soil and a higher sensible heat flux in the RockyMountain sinkhole.

This Supplement to the Energy Information Administration's Short-Term Energy Outlook analyzes current natural gas production, pipeline and storage infrastructure in the RockyMountains, as well as prospective pipeline projects in these states. The influence of these factors on regional prices and price volatility is examined.

The activities and findings of the seven state commercialization teams participating in the RockyMountain Basin and Range commercialization program are described. Background information is provided; program objectives and the technical approach that is used are discussed; and the benefits of the program are described. The summary of findings is presented. Prospect identification, area development plans, site specific development analyses, time-phased project plans, the aggregated prospective geothermal energy use, and institutional analyses are discussed. Public outreach activities are covered and findings and recommendations are summarized. The commercialization activities carried out by the respective state teams are described for the following: Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

The activities and findings of the seven state commercialization teams participating in the RockyMountain Basin and Range commercialization program are described. The period covered is July through December 1981. Background information is provided, program objectives and the technical approach used are discussed, and the benefits of the program are described. Prospect identification, area development plans, site specific development analyses, time-phased project plans, the aggregated prospective geothermal energy use, and institutional analyses are discussed. Public outreach activities are covered and findings and recommendations are summarized.

This report summarizes the geology of uranium deposits in the southern part of the RockyMountains of Colorado, an area of about 20,000 square miles. In January 1966, combined ore reserves and ore production at 28 uranium deposits were about 685,000 tons of ore averaging 0.24 percent U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ (3.32 million pounds U/sub 3/O/sub 8/). About half of these deposits each contain <1,000 tons of ore. The two largest deposits, the Pitch in the Marshall Pass locality southwest of Salida and the T-1 in the Cochetopa locality southeast of Gunnison, account for about 90 percent of all production and available reserves. The probability in excellent for major expansion of reserves in Marshall Pass and is favorable at a few other vein localities. There are six types of uranium deposits, and there were at least four ages of emplacement of these deposits in the southern part of the Colorado Rockies. There are eight types of host rocks of eight different ages. Veins and stratiform deposits each account for about 40 percent of the total number of deposits, but the veins of early and middle Tertiary age account for nearly all of the total reserves plus production. The remaining 20 percent of the deposits include uraniferous pegmatites, irregular disseminations in porphyry, and other less important types. The wall rocks at the large Tertiary vein deposits in the southern part of the RockyMountains of Colorado are Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, whereas Precambrian metamorphic wall rocks predominate at the large veins in the Front Range of the northern Colorado Rockies. Metallogenetic considerations and tectonic influences affecting the distribution of uranium in Colorado and in adjacent portions of the western United States are analyzed.

Development Council - News Releases | NREL Named Corporation of Year by the RockyMountain Minority Supplier Development Council March 26, 2010 A minority business advocacy group has named the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory as its corporation of the year, citing NREL's contracts with minority-owned businesses and its outreach to them. The award was determined by heads of minority-owned businesses who are members of the RockyMountain Minority Supplier

The objective of the interim response action at the Motor Pool Area is to mitigate the threat of releases of trichloroethane. The proposed IRA will consist of the installation of a vapor extraction system to remove and treat the soil contamination at an identified source of trichloroethane at the Moror pool. A ground water extraction and treatment system will be installed to contain the trichloroethane plume emanating from the area. This decision document provides summaries of: (1) alternative technologies considered; (2) significant events leading to the initiation of the IRA; (3) the IRA project; and (4) applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements, standards, criteria, and limitations (ARAR`S) associated with the program.

The primary objective of the “Characterization of Most Promising Carbon Capture and Sequestration Formations in the Central RockyMountain Region” project, or RMCCS project, is to characterize the storage potential of the most promising geologic sequestration formations within the southwestern U.S. and the Central RockyMountain region in particular. The approach included an analysis of geologic sequestration formations under the Craig Power Station in northwestern Colorado, and application or extrapolation of those local-scale results to the broader region. A ten-step protocol for geologic carbon storage site characterization was a primary outcome of this project.

The purpose of this report is to describe the outcome of a targeted risk assessment of a candidate geologic sequestration site in the RockyMountain region of the USA. Specifically, a major goal of the probabilistic risk assessment was to quantify the possible spatiotemporal responses for Area of Review (AoR) and injection-induced pressure buildup associated with carbon dioxide (COâ‚‚) injection into the subsurface. Because of the computational expense of a conventional Monte Carlo approach, especially given the likely uncertainties in model parameters, we applied a response surface method for probabilistic risk assessment of geologic COâ‚‚ storage in the Permo-Penn Weber formation at a potential CCS site in Craig, Colorado. A site-specific aquifer model was built for the numerical simulation based on a regional geologic model.

Plaintiff RockyMountain Oil and Gas Association, a non-profit trade association, brought suit against the Secretary of the Interior, challenging land management policies of the Department of the Interior which plaintiff contended have effectively prohibited oil and gas exploration in areas proposed as wilderness under the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). The principal issue at trial was Interior's interpretation of the wilderness study provisions contained in Section 603 of the Act, which directed that activities on oil and gas leases in proposed wilderness areas be managed so as to prevent impairment of wilderness values. The United States Court for the District of Wyoming, Kerr, J., held that strict application of the non-impairment standard of Section 603, FLPMA, by the Department of the Interior virtually halted oil and gas exploration in proposed wilderness areas, and is therefore statutorily erroneous, clearly contrary to Congressional intent, and counter-productive to public interest. The Trial Court's decision is being appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals under the title RockyMountain Oil and Gas Association v. Watt. 91 references.

The Southern RockyMountain atlas assimilates five collections of wind resource data: one for the region and one for each of the four states that compose the Southern RockyMountain region (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah). At the state level, features of the climate, topography and wind resource are discussed in greater detail than is provided in the regional discussion, and the data locations on which the assessment is based are mapped. Variations, over several time scales, in the wind resource at selected stations in each state are shown on graphs of monthly average and interannual wind speed and power, and hourly average wind speed for each season. Other graphs present speed, direction, and duration frequencies of the wind at these locations.

The Interim Response Action (IRA) for the Sanitary Sewer System at the RockyMountain Arsenal (RMA) is being conducted as part of the IRA process for RMA in accordance with the June 5, 1987 report to the court in United States v. Shell Oil Co. and the proposed modified Consent Decree. This IRA project will consist of 'remediation of certain priority portions of the sanitary sewer to minimize the potential pathway of contaminant flow' (para 9.1(j), Consent Decree, 1988).

MIS-14-32720 AVTA Federal Fleet PEV Readiness Data Logging and Characterization Study for the National Park Service: RockyMountain National Park Stephen Schey Jim Francfort Ian Nienhueser July 2014 DISCLAIMER This information was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the U.S. Government. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy,

The Rocky Flats Site (Site) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility near Golden, Colorado that produced nuclear weapons components during the Cold War. Like many federal properties that have been off-limits to public access for decades, it has become a refugia for biodiversity as surrounding landscapes have been lost to agriculture and urbanization. A floristic study of the area was conducted on approximately 2,505 ha (6,189 ac) and includes the parcels currently managed and operated by DOE and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge). A flora of 630 species of vascular plants in 84 families and 340 genera was documented, including 12 species endemic to the southern RockyMountains and seven species considered rare or imperiled by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. The flora of the Site is characterized by a predominantly Western North American floristic element, however, an Adventive floristic element contributes the greatest number of species. The vegetation is dominated by xeric tallgrass prairie and mixed grass prairie, with areas of wetland, shrubland, and riparian woodland.

The Rocky Flats Site (Site) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility near Golden, Colorado that produced nuclear weapons components during the Cold War. Like many federal properties that have been off-limits to public access for decades, it has become a refugia for biodiversity as surrounding landscapes have been lost to agriculture and urbanization. A floristic study of the area was conducted on approximately 2,505 ha (6,189 ac) and includes the parcels currently managed and operated by DOE and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge). A flora of 630 species of vascular plants inmoreÂ Â» 84 families and 340 genera was documented, including 12 species endemic to the southern RockyMountains and seven species considered rare or imperiled by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. The flora of the Site is characterized by a predominantly Western North American floristic element, however, an Adventive floristic element contributes the greatest number of species. The vegetation is dominated by xeric tallgrass prairie and mixed grass prairie, with areas of wetland, shrubland, and riparian woodland.Â«Â less

production-induced formation pressure drawdown). The Piceance Basin (Colorado) was chosen for this study because of the extensive set of data provided to us by federal agencies and industry partners, its remaining reserves, and its similarities with other RockyMountain basins. We focused on the Rulison Field to test our ability to capture details in a well-characterized area. In this study, we developed a number of general principles including (1) the importance of even subtle flexure in creating fractures; (2) the tendency to preserve fractures due to the compressibility of gases; (3) the importance of oscillatory fracture/flow cycles in the expulsion of natural gas from source rock; and (4) that predicting fractures requires a basin model that is comprehensive, all processes are coupled, and is fully 3-D. A major difficulty in using Basin RTM or other basin simulator has been overcome in this project; we have set forth an information theory technology for automatically integrating basin modeling with classical database analysis; this technology also provides an assessment of risk. We have created a relational database for the Piceance Basin. We have developed a formulation of devolatilization shrinkage that integrates organic geochemical kinetics into incremental stress theory, allowing for the prediction of coal cleating and associated enhancement of natural gas expulsion from coal. An estimation of the potential economic benefits of the technologies developed or recommended here is set forth. All of the above findings are documented in this report.

Lack of aspen (Populus tremuloides) recruitment and canopy replacement of aspen stands that grow on the edges of grasslands on the low-elevation elk (Cervus elaphus) winter range of RockyMountain National Park (RMNP) in Colorado has been a cause of concern for more than 70 years (Packard, 1942; Olmsted, 1979; Stevens, 1980; Hess, 1993; R.J. Monello, T.L. Johnson, and R.G. Wright, RockyMountain National Park, 2006, written commun.). These aspen stands are a significant resource since they are located close to the park's road system and thus are highly visible to park visitors. Aspen communities are integral to the ecological structure of montane and subalpine landscapes because they contain high native species richness of plants, birds, and butterflies (Chong and others, 2001; Simonson and others, 2001; Chong and Stohlgren, 2007). These low-elevation, winter range stands also represent a unique component of the park's plant community diversity since most (more than 95 percent) of the park's aspen stands grow in coniferous forest, often on sheltered slopes and at higher elevations, while these winter range stands are situated on the low-elevation ecotone between the winter range grasslands and some of the park's drier coniferous forests.

We investigate 3-D mountain effects on solar flux distributions and their impact on surface hydrology over the Western United States, specifically the RockyMountains and Sierra Nevada using CCSM4 (CAM4/CLM4) global model with a 0.23Â° Ă— 0.31Â° resolution for simulations over 6 years. In 3-D radiative transfer parameterization, we have updated surface topography data from a resolution of 1 km to 90 m to improve parameterization accuracy. In addition, we have also modified the upward-flux deviation [3-D - PP (plane-parallel)] adjustment to ensure that energy balance at the surface is conserved in global climate simulations based on 3-D radiation parameterization.moreÂ Â» We show that deviations of the net surface fluxes are not only affected by 3-D mountains, but also influenced by feedbacks of cloud and snow in association with the long-term simulations. Deviations in sensible heat and surface temperature generally follow the patterns of net surface solar flux. The monthly snow water equivalent (SWE) deviations show an increase in lower elevations due to reduced snowmelt, leading to a reduction in cumulative runoff. Over higher elevation areas, negative SWE deviations are found because of increased solar radiation available at the surface. Simulated precipitation increases for lower elevations, while decreases for higher elevations with a minimum in April. Liquid runoff significantly decreases in higher elevations after April due to reduced SWE and precipitation.Â«Â less

We investigate 3-D mountain effects on solar flux distributions and their impact on surface hydrology over the western United States, specifically the RockyMountains and the Sierra Nevada, using the global CCSM4 (Community Climate System Model version 4; Community Atmosphere Model/Community Land Model â€“ CAM4/CLM4) with a 0.23Â° Ă— 0.31Â° resolution for simulations over 6 years. In a 3-D radiative transfer parameterization, we have updated surface topography data from a resolution of 1 km to 90 m to improve parameterization accuracy. In addition, we have also modified the upward-flux deviation (3-Dâ€“PP (plane-parallel)) adjustment to ensure that the energy balance atmoreÂ Â» the surface is conserved in global climate simulations based on 3-D radiation parameterization. We show that deviations in the net surface fluxes are not only affected by 3-D mountains but also influenced by feedbacks of cloud and snow in association with the long-term simulations. Deviations in sensible heat and surface temperature generally follow the patterns of net surface solar flux. The monthly snow water equivalent (SWE) deviations show an increase in lower elevations due to reduced snowmelt, leading to a reduction in cumulative runoff. Over higher-elevation areas, negative SWE deviations are found because of increased solar radiation available at the surface. Simulated precipitation increases for lower elevations, while it decreases for higher elevations, with a minimum in April. Liquid runoff significantly decreases at higher elevations after April due to reduced SWE and precipitation.Â«Â less

DOE prepared an EA that assesses the potential environmental impacts of the proposed discontinuation of DOE operations at the RockyMountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC) and the proposed divestiture of Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 3 (NPR-3)

This report expresses a Ten-Step Protocol for CO2 Storage Site Characterization, the final outcome of an extensive Site Characterization analysis of the RockyMountain region, USA. These ten steps include: (1) regional assessment and data gathering; (2) identification and analysis of appropriate local sites for characterization; (3) public engagement; (4) geologic and geophysical analysis of local site(s); (5) stratigraphic well drilling and coring; (6) core analysis and interpretation with other data; (7) database assembly and static model development; (8) storage capacity assessment; (9) simulation and uncertainty assessment; (10) risk assessment. While the results detailed here are primarily germane to the RockyMountain region, the intent of this protocol is to be portable or generally applicable for CO2 storage site characterization.

The RockyMountain Arsenal (RMA) (Operable Unit 21) site comprises part of the 17,000-acre RMA site, which is a former U.S. Army chemical warfare and incendiary munitions manufacturing and assembly plant in Adams County, Colorado. From the 1950s until late 1969, the U.S. Army used the RMA facility to produce the nerve agent GB (isopropylmethyl-phosphonofluoridate). In addition, between 1947 and 1982, private industries leased major portions of the plant's facilities to manufacture various insecticides and herbicides. Operable Unit 21 (OU21), the South Tank Farm Plume (STFP), is one of several areas being addressed as part of the Other Contaminated Sources IRA. From 1947 to 1978, STF tanks 464A, 464B, and others were used intermittently to store bicycloheptadiene (BCHPD) and dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) bottoms generated from pesticide manufacturing. A number of U.S. Army investigations have revealed ground water contamination originating from the areas of light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) located near tank 464A. Recent investigations have shown that the STFP does not pose significant risk to public health or the environment. The ROD addresses interim management of migration of the STFP and is consistent with the Final Response Action. The primary contaminants of concern affecting the ground water are VOCs including benzene, toluene, and xylenes. The selected interim remedial action for the site is included.

The activities and findings of the ten state teams participating in the RockyMountain Basin and Range Regional Hydrothermal Commercialization Program for the period are described. A summary of the state projects, compilation of project accomplishments, summary of findings, and a description of the major conclusions and recommendations are presented. Also included are chapters on the commercialization activities carried out by individual teams in each state: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New-Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. (MHR)

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and dark-septate endophytic (DSE) fungi were quantified in plant roots from high-elevation sites in the Cordillera Vilcanota of the Andes (Per ) and the Front Range of the Colorado RockyMountains (U.S.A.). At the highest sites in the Andes (5391 m) AM fungi were absent in the two species of plants sampled (both Compositae) but roots of both were heavily colonized by DSE fungi. At slightly lower elevations (5240 5250 m) AM fungi were present in roots while DSE fungi were rare in plants outside of the composite family. At the highest sites sampled in Colorado (4300 m) AM fungi were present, but at very low levels and all plants sampled contained DSE fungi. Hyphae of coarse AM fungi decreased significantly in plant roots at higher altitude in Colorado, but no other structures showed significant decreases with altitude. These new findings indicate that the altitudinal distribution of mycorrhizal fungi observed for European mountains do not necessarily apply to higher and drier mountains that cover much of the Earth (e.g. the Himalaya, Hindu Kush, Andes, and Rockies) where plant growth is more limited by nutrients and water than in European mountains. This paper describes the highest altitudinal records for both AM and DSE fungi, surpassing previous reported altitudinal maxima by about 1500 meters.

An aerial survey of Northern RockyMountain glaciers in Montana and Wyoming was conducted in late summer of 1996. The Flathead, Swan, Mission, and Beartooth Mountains of Montana were covered, as well as the Teton and Wind River Ranges of Wyoming. Present extent of glaciers in this study were compared to limits on recent USGS 15 and 7.5 topographic maps, and also from selected personal photos. Large cirque and hanging glaciers of the Flathead and Wind River Ranges did not display significant decrease in size or change in terminus position. Cirque glaciers in the Swan, Mission, Beartooth and Teton Ranges were markedly smaller in size; with separation of the ice body, growth of the terminus lake, or cover of the ice terminus with rockfalls. A study of annual snowfall, snowdepths, precipitation, and mean temperatures for selected stations in the Northern RockyMountains indicates no extreme variations in temperature or precipitation between 1950-1996, but several years of low snowfall and warmer temperatures in the 1980`s appear to have been sufficient to diminish many of the smaller cirque glaciers, many to the point of extinction. The disappearance of small cirque glaciers may indicate a greater sensitivity to overall climatic warming than the more dramatic fluctuations of larger glaciers in the same region.

Spatial analysis of the {sup 240}Pu:{sup 239}Pu isotopic ratio of 42 soil samples collected around Rocky Flats Plant near Golden, Colorado, was conducted to assess the effect of Rocky Flats Plant activity on the soil environment. Two probability maps that quantified the uncertainty of the spatial distribution of plutonium isotopic ratios were constructed using the sequential Gaussian simulation technique (sGs). Assuming a plutonium isotopic ratio range of 0.152 {+-} 0.003 to 0.169 {+-} 0.009 is characteristic to global fallout in Colorado, and a mean value of 0.155 is representative for the Rocky Flats Plant area, the main findings of the current work were (1) the areas northwest and southwest of Rocky Flats Plant exhibited a plutonium ratio {ge}0.155, this were minimally impacted by the plant activity; (2) he study area east of Rocky Flats Plant exhibited a plutonium isotopic ratio {le}0.155, which is a definitive indicator of Rocky Flats Plant-derived plutonium; and (3) inventory calculations across the study area exhibited large standard error of estimates. These errors were originated from the high variability in plutonium activity over a small sampling scale and the uncertainty in the global fallout isotopic ratio. Using the mean simulated estimates of plutonium isotopic ratio, coupled with plutonium activity measured at 11 soil pits and additional plutonium information published elsewhere, the plutonium loading on the open space and residential areas amounted to 111.2 GBq, with a standard error of estimate of 50.8 GBq.

The purpose of this report is to report results of reservoir model simulation analyses for forecasting subsurface CO2 storage capacity estimation for the most promising formations in the RockyMountain region of the USA. A particular emphasis of this project was to assess uncertainty of the simulation-based forecasts. Results illustrate how local-scale data, including well information, number of wells, and location of wells, affect storage capacity estimates and what degree of well density (number of wells over a fixed area) may be required to estimate capacity within a specified degree of confidence. A major outcome of this work was development of a new workflow of simulation analysis, accommodating the addition of â€śrandom pseudo wellsâ€ť to represent virtual characterization wells.

We investigate 3-D mountains/snow effects on solar flux distributions and their impact on surface hydrology over the western United States, specifically the RockyMountains and Sierra Nevada. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, applied at a 30 km grid resolution, is used in conjunction with a 3-D radiative transfer parameterization covering a time period from 1 November 2007 to 31 May 2008, during which abundant snowfall occurred. A comparison of the 3-D WRF simulation with the observed snow water equivalent (SWE) and precipitation from Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) sites shows reasonable agreement in terms of spatial patterns and daily and seasonal variability, although the simulation generally has a positive precipitation bias. We show that 3-D mountain features have a profound impact on the diurnal and monthly variation of surface radiative and heat fluxes, and on the consequent elevation dependence of snowmelt and precipitation distributions. In particular, during the winter months, large deviations (3-DPP, in which PP denotes the plane-parallel approach) of the monthly mean surface solar flux are found in the morning and afternoon hours due to shading effects for elevations below 2.5 km. During spring, positive deviations shift to the earlier morning. Over mountaintops higher than 3 km, positive deviations are found throughout the day, with the largest values of 40-60Wm?2 occurring at noon during the snowmelt season of April to May. The monthly SWE deviations averaged over the entire domain show an increase in lower elevations due to reduced snowmelt, which leads to a reduction in cumulative runoff. Over higher elevation areas, positive SWE deviations are found because of increased solar radiation available at the surface. Overall, this study shows that deviations of SWE due to 3-D radiation effects range from an increase of 18%at the lowest elevation range (1.5-2 km) to a decrease of 8% at the highest elevation range (above 3 km). Since lower

The work accomplished from August 1978 to February 1980 in the Regional Operations Research efforts for the RockyMountain Basin and Range Geothermal Commercialization Program are described. The work included continued data acquisition and extension of the data base, enhancement and refinement of the economic models for electric and direct use applications, site-specific and aggregated analyses in support of the state teams and special analyses in support of several federal agencies.

Solar heating and daylighting are two primary design features which can have a major impact on occupant perceptions of an underground living environment. A quantitative design analysis and evaluation of these features has been conducted for an energy conserving earth covered dwelling in a cold climate at high altitude in the RockyMountains. For this example, because of the solar contribution, a heating load reduction greater than 45 percent has been calculated and demonstrated on an operational basis, compared to the same earth sheltered construction without solar. The building envelope also has an effective time lag of several months which further increases the annual effectiveness. Also, depending on the sky conditions, the portion of exterior daylight reaching deep into the interior spaces easily exceeds 10 percent in the winter and can reach up to 50 percent or more. Thus, both heating and lighting by natural means are shown to be available in ample quantities in this cave-like structure. Pertinent design features to enhance such performance are highlighted.

The decision document outlines remediation and management alternatives to coordinate disposal options for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) wastes at the RockyMountain Arsenal (RMA) under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) activities. This decision document selects specific disposal options associated with Element Two under the expansion of the Pretreatment of CERCLA Liquid Wastes Interim Response Action (IRA). Section 2 of this decision document provides a brief overview of the Interim Response Action (IRA) currently being conducted at RMA, including an expansion of the original IRA to include three additional elements. Section 3 identifies the objectives of Element Two of this IRA expansion. Section 4 identifies potential alternatives that are applicable to the disposal of the wastes generated under Element Two. A description of the preferred or selected disposal alternative, and the evaluation process used to support this selection, as background is provided in Section 5. Information including a list of chronological events is presented in Section 6, and the IRA process for Element Two is identified in Section 7. A brief discussion of applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements (ARARs) is included in Section 8. Additional requirements to be considered are discussed in Section 9.

Power SURGE is joint project between the DOEâ€™s Office of Security Assistance and the Departmentâ€™s Power Marketing Administrations, led by the Western Area Power Marketing Administration, to develop a fiscally responsible and effective protection strategy for physical attacks on the grid.

This report describes the work accomplished from January 1980 to March 1981 in the Regional Operations Research efforts for the RockyMountain Basin and Range Geothermal Commercialization Program. The scope of work is as described in New Mexico State University Proposal 80-20-207. The work included continued data acquisition and extension of the data base, enhancement and refinement of the economic models for electric and direct use applications, site-specific and aggregated analyses in support of the state teams, special analyses in support of several federal agencies, and marketing assistance to the state commercialization teams.

The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of individual local-Â­scale CCS site characterization studies conducted in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. These site-Â­ specific characterization analyses were performed as part of the â€śCharacterization of Most Promising Sequestration Formations in the RockyMountain Regionâ€ť (RMCCS) project. The primary objective of these local-Â­scale analyses is to provide a basis for regional-Â­scale characterization efforts within each state. Specifically, limits on time and funding will typically inhibit CCS projects from conducting high-Â­ resolution characterization of a state-Â­sized region, but smaller (< 10,000 km{sup 2}) site analyses are usually possible, and such can provide insight regarding limiting factors for the regional-Â­scale geology. For the RMCCS project, the outcomes of these local-Â­scale studies provide a starting point for future local-Â­scale site characterization efforts in the RockyMountain region.

Calabasas, CA This project was to develop the first visitor center for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area located in the Los Angeles, California area. The previous visitor center was across from a shopping mall in rental space at park headquarters in Thousand Oaks. The new facility is centrally located in the park at a much more appropriate natural and cultural resource setting. It is a partnership project with the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, which is a local land conservation and park agency. It is also a joint facility with California State Parks.

The case history of a landslide in the U.S. RockyMountains shows that the potential for pipeline monitoring in geologically sensitive areas, those subject to landslides and subsidence, for example. A properly installed monitoring system monitored by the pipeline operator, Western Gas Supply Co. (West Gas), Denver, provided an early warning of increasing line strains. The problem was complicated by rugged topography which is described here. Stability analysis was the key technique utilized in the process.

In the Southwest and Southern RockyMountains (SWSRM), energy production, energy resource extraction, and other high volume uses depend on water supply from systems that are highly vulnerable to extreme, coupled hydro-ecosystem-climate events including prolonged drought, flooding, degrading snow cover, forest die off, and wildfire. These vulnerabilities, which increase under climate change, present a challenge for energy and resource planners in the region with the highest population growth rate in the nation. Currently, analytical tools are designed to address individual aspects of these regional energy and water vulnerabilities. Further, these tools are not linked, severely limiting the effectiveness of each individual tool. Linking established tools, which have varying degrees of spatial and temporal resolution as well as modeling objectives, and developing next-generation capabilities where needed would provide a unique and replicable platform for regional analyses of climate-water-ecosystem-energy interactions, while leveraging prior investments and current expertise (both within DOE and across other Federal agencies).

This document consists of 2 parts, final design analysis and specifications. The purpose of the project was to develop a design for the Interim Response Actions (IRA) at the Lime and M-l Settling Basins at RockyMountain Arsenal (RMA), Commerce City, Colorado. The purpose of the IRA at the Lime and M-l Settling Basins is to mitigate the threat of release from the Basins on an interim basis, pending determination of the final remedy in the Onpost Record of Decision (ROD). The IRA for the M-l Basins also includes treatment of the waste materials in the basins with in-situ vitrification (ISV), which is being designed by contract with Woodward-Clyde Consultants.

Groundwater samples in the Yucca Mountainarea were collected for chemical and isotopic analyses and measurements of water temperature, pH, specific conductivity, and alkalinity were obtained at the well or spring at the time of sampling. For this project, groundwater samples were analyzed for major-ion chemistry, deuterium, oxygen-18, and carbon isotopes of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) performed all the fieldwork on this project including measurement of water chemistry field parameters and sample collection. The major ions dissolved in the groundwater, deuterium, oxygen-18, and carbon isotopes of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) were analyzed by the USGS. All preparation and processing of samples for DOC carbon isotopic analyses and geochemical modeling were performed by the Desert Research Institute (DRI). Analysis of the DOC carbon dioxide gas produced at DRI to obtain carbon-13 and carbon-14 values was conducted at the University of Arizona Accelerator Facility (a NSHE Yucca Mountain project QA qualified contract facility). The major-ion chemistry, deuterium, oxygen-18, and carbon isotopes of DIC were used in geochemical modeling (NETPATH) to determine groundwater sources, flow paths, mixing, and ages. The carbon isotopes of DOC were used to calculate groundwater ages that are independent of DIC model corrected carbon-14 ages. The DIC model corrected carbon-14 calculated ages were used to evaluate groundwater travel times for mixtures of water including water beneath Yucca Mountain. When possible, groundwater travel times were calculated for groundwater flow from beneath Yucca Mountain to down gradient sample sites. DOC carbon-14 groundwater ages were also calculated for groundwaters in the Yucca Mountainarea. When possible, groundwater travel times were estimated for groundwater flow from beneath Yucca Mountain to down gradient groundwater sample sites using the DOC calculated

07 1 September 2007 Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement: Natural Gas in the RockyMountains: Developing Infrastructure 1 Highlights * Recent natural gas spot market volatility in the RockyMountain States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming has been the result of increased production while consumption and pipeline export capacity have remained limited. This Supplement analyzes current natural gas production, pipeline and storage infrastructure in the RockyMountains, as well as prospective pipeline

The Crown of the Continent is one of the premiere ecosystems in North America containing Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the Bob Marshall-Great Bear-Scapegoat Wilderness Complex in Montana, various Provincial Parks in British Columbia and Alberta, several national and state forest lands in the USA, and Crown Lands in Canada. The region is also the headwater source for three of the continent's great rivers: Columbia, Missouri and Saskatchewan that flow to the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, respectively. While the region has many remarkably pristine headwater streams and receiving rivers, there are many pending threats to water quality and quantity. One of the most urgent threats comes from the coal and gas fields in the northern part of the Crown of the Continent, where coal deposits are proposed for mountain-top removal and open-pit mining operations. This will have significant effects on the waters of the region, its native plants and animals and quality of life of the people.

An assessment of the geothermal resources within a fifty-mile radius of the Yucca Mountain Project area was conducted to determine the potential for commercial development. The assessment includes collection, evaluation, and quantification of existing geological, geochemical, hydrological, and geophysical data within the Yucca Mountainarea as they pertain to geothermal phenomena. Selected geologic, geochemical, and geophysical data were reduced to a set of common-scale digital maps using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for systematic analysis and evaluation. Available data from the Yucca Mountainarea were compared to similar data from developed and undeveloped geothermal areas in other parts of the Great Basin to assess the resource potential for future geothermal development at Yucca Mountain. This information will be used in the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project to determine the potential suitability of the site as a permanent underground repository for high-level nuclear waste.

The interim response action consists of the design and construction or installation of improvements at the North Boundary alluvial ground water intercept and treatment system. This draft final decision document provides summaries of: alternatives considered; significant events leading to the initiation of the IRA ; the IRA project; The applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements, standards, criteria, or limitations (ARAR's) associated with the program; The following improvements are planned: recharge units in areas not covered by the new recharge trenches; treatment system modifications to reduce carbon fines in plant effluent.

Recent (1977 to 1978) gravity and aeromagnetic surveys of the Timber Mountain region, southern Nevada, have revealed new details of subsurface structure and lithology. The data strongly suggest that deformation caused by volcanic events has been accommodated along straight-line faults combining in such a fashion as to given a curvilinear appearance to regional structure. The magnetic data suggest that rock units in the central graben and along the southeast margin of Timber Mountain may have been altered, perhaps thermally, from their original state. The gravity data indicate that the south part of the Timber Mountain is underlain by relatively dense rock possibly intrusive rock, like that which crops out along its southeast side. The gravity data also suggest that the Silent Canyon caldera may extend considerably south of its presently indicated southern limit and may underlie much of the area of Timber Mountain. The moat areas appear to be more rectangular or triangular than annular in shape. The southern part of Timber Mountain caldera is separated from the Yucca Mountainarea to the south by a triangular horst. The structural relations of the rock units making up the horst are complex. Several linear terrain features in the southern part of the caldera area are closely aligned with geophysical features, implying that the terrain features are fault-controlled.

For Immediate Release Contact: Rick McLeod Monday, November 9, 2009 803.593.9954 x1411 Government Decision to Abandon Yucca Mountain Negatively Impacts Central Savannah River Area AIKEN, SC - The Federal Government's failure to complete construction of its only option for long-term nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert will result in the Savannah River Site becoming the permanent home to tons of high- level nuclear waste, a local community group says. The SRS Community

The Transantarctic Mountains are a major transcontinental range stretching for some 4000 kilometers, varying from 200-400 kilometers in width, and having elevations up to 4500 meters. The uplift and formation of the Transantarctic Mountains have always been something of an enigma, but recent apatite fission-track analysis is providing important new information not only about their uplift history but also about the implications of that uplift history for the glacial history of Antarctica as a whole. The main field objective of this project was to collect samples for fission-track analysis to determine the timing and rate of uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains and measure relative vertical displacements across faults within the range. Results from southern Victoria Land indicate that uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains was initiated at about 50 million years ago and since that time the mountains have undergone some 5 kilometers of uplift at an average rate of 100 meters per million years. It is important to realize, however, that this is an average rate and may well conceal pulses of faster and slower uplift or even periods of subsidence. The amount of uplift across the mountain range is differential; from the axis of maximum uplift about 30 kilometers inland of the Victoria Land coast, the mountains dip gently westward under the polar ice cap. The study was extended to the Beardmore Glacier area to see whether the uplift history and tectonics varies from that observed in southern Victoria Land.

The Cross Mountain Wilderness Study Area, in northwestern Colorado, contains high-purity limestone suitable for industrial and agricultural use; dolomitic limestone suitable for agricultural use; and limestone, dolomite, sandstone, and sand and gravel suitable for use as construction materials. There has been no mining within this study area. This entire study area has a low mineral resource potential for sediment-hosted copper in the Uinta Mountain Group, and parts of this study area have a low resource potential for sandstone-type uranium-vanadium in sedimentary rocks. The entire study area has a low resource potential for all other metals and geothermal resources. It has a high energy resource potential for oil and gas in the eastern part of the area and moderate potential elsewhere. This study area has no mineral resource potential for coal.

Georgia mountain lives up to its rugged name as excavators fight some unexpected ground conditions. When settlers pushed into the remote valleys of far northwestern Georgia, they had no idea just how apt the name given one odd geologic formation would become to a new generation of pioneers. RockyMountain`s 700 ft of diagonally upthrusting limestone, shale and sandstone layers have become the main antagonists in a decade-long struggle to place an 848-Mw pumped storage power project in and around the mountain.

An informal, revised lithostratigraphic framework for the southern Yucca Mountainarea, Nevada has been developed to accommodate new information derived from subsurface investigations of the Nye County Early Warning Drilling Program. Lithologies penetrated by recently drilled boreholes at locations between Stagecoach Road and Highway 95 in southern Nye County include Quaternary and Pliocene alluvium and alluvial breccia, Miocene pyroclastic flow deposits and intercalated lacustrine siltstone and claystone sequences, early Miocene to Oligocene pre-volcanic sedimentary rocks, and Paleozoic strata. Of the 37 boreholes currently drilled, 21 boreholes have sufficient depth, spatial distribution, or traceable pyroclastic flow, pyroclastic fall, and reworked tuff deposits to aid in the lateral correlation of lithostrata. Medial and distal parts of regional pyroclastic flow deposits of Miocene age can be correlated with the Timber Mountain, Paintbrush, Crater Flat, and Tram Ridge Groups. Rocks intercalated between these regional pyroclastic flow deposits are substantially thicker than in the central part of Yucca Mountain, particularly near the downthrown side of major faults and along the southern extent of exposures at Yucca Mountain.

This flora describes the plants that occur within the Mayacmas Mountain Range of northern California. It is the result of ten years of environmental assessment by the author in the Geysers Geothermal Resource area, located in the center of the Mayacmas Range. The flora includes notes on plant communities and ecology of the area, as well as habitat and collection data for most of the 679 species covered. Altogether 74 families, 299 genera and 679 species are included in the flora. The work is divided into eight subdivisions: trees; shrubs; ferns and fern allies; aquatic plants; tules, sedges, and rushes; lilies and related plants; dicot herbs; and grasses. Within each subdivision, family, genera and species are listed alphabetically. Keys are provided at the beginning of each subdivision. A unique combination of physical, environmental and geologic factors have resulted in a rich and diverse flora in the Mayacmas. Maps have been provided indicating known locations for species of rare or limited occurrence.

Yucca Mountain, in southern Nevada, is being investigated by the US Department of Energy as a potential site for a repository for high-level radioactive waste. This report documents the results of surface-based geologic, pneumatic, hydrologic, and geochemical studies conducted during 1992 to 1996 by the US Geological Survey in the vicinity of the North Ramp of the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) that are pertinent to understanding multiphase fluid flow within the deep unsaturated zone. Detailed stratigraphic and structural characteristics of the study area provided the hydrogeologic framework for these investigations. Shallow infiltration is not discussed in detail in this report because the focus in on three major aspects of the deep unsaturated-zone system: geologic framework, the gaseous-phase system, and the aqueous-phase system. However, because the relation between shallow infiltration and deep percolation is important to an overall understanding of the unsaturated-zone flow system, a summary of infiltration studies conducted to date at Yucca Mountain is provided in the section titled Shallow Infiltration. This report describes results of several Site Characterization Plan studies that were ongoing at the time excavation of the ESF North Ramp began and that continued as excavation proceeded.

Graham About Us Robert Graham - EV Everywhere Director As Director of EV Everywhere for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Robert (Bob) Graham manages the U.S. Department of Energy's initiatives to increase market penetration of plug-in electric vehicles. Since retiring from Southern California Edison (SCE) in January 2014 as a member of the SCE transportation electrification program, Bob has supported market expansion of PEVs as a part-time consultant. Before his

Regional scale circulation and mountain-plain interactions and effects on boundary layer development are important for understanding the fate of an atmospheric release from Rocky Flats, Colorado. Numerical modeling of Front Range topographic effects near Rocky Flats have shown that though the Front Range dominates large scale flow features, small-scale terrain features near Rocky Flats are important to local transport during nighttime drainage flow conditions. Rocky Flats has been the focus of interest for the Department of Energy`s Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) program.

In February 1983, the US Department of Energy (DOE) identified the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as one of nine potentially acceptable sites for a mined geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The site is in the Great Basin, which is one of five distinct geohydrologic settings considered for the first repository. To determine their suitability, the Yucca Mountain site and the eight other potentially acceptable sites have been evaluated in accordance with the DOE`s General Guidelines for the Recommendation of Sites for the Nuclear Waste Repositories. These evaluations were reported in draft environmental assessments (EAs), which were issued for public review and comment. After considering the comments received on the draft EAs, the DOE prepared the final EAs. On the basis of the evaluations reported in this EA, the DOE has found that the Yucca Mountain site is not disqualified under the guidelines. The DOE has also found that it is suitable for site characterization because the evidence does not support a conclusion that the site will not be able to meet each of the qualifying conditions specified in the guidelines. On the basis of these findings, the DOE is nominating the Yucca Mountain site as one of five sites suitable for characterization.

In February 1983, the US Department of Energy (DOE) identified the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as one of nine potentially acceptable sites for a mined geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The site is in the Great Basin, which is one of five distinct geohydrologic settings considered for the first repository. To determine their suitability, the Yucca Mountain site and the eight other potentially acceptable sites have been evaluated in accordance with the DOE`s General Guidelines for the Recommendation of Sites for the Nuclear Waste Repositories. These evaluations were reported in draft environmental assessments (EAs), which were issued for public review and comment. After considering the comments received on the draft EAs, the DOE prepared the final EAs. On the basis of the evaluations reported in this EA, the DOE has found that the Yucca Mountain site is not disqualified under the guidelines. The DOE has also found that is is suitable for site characterization because the evidence does not support a conclusion that the site will not be able to meet each of the qualifying conditions specified in the guidelines. On the basis of these findings, the DOE is nominating the Yucca Mountain site as one of five sites suitable for characterization.

In February 1983, the US Department of Energy (DOE) identified the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as one of nine potentially acceptable sites for a mined geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high- level radioactive waste. The site is in the Great Basin, which is one of five distinct geohydrologic settings considered for the first repository. To determine their suitability, the Yucca Mountain site and the eight other potentially acceptable sites have been evaluated in accordance with the DOE`s General Guideline for the Recommendation of Sites for the Nuclear Waste Repositories. These evaluations were reported in draft environmental assessments (EA), which were issued for public review and comment. After considering the comments received on the draft EAs, the DOE prepared the final EAs. On the basis of the evaluations reported in this EA, the DOE found that the Yucca Mountain site is not disqualified under the guidelines. The DOE has also found that it is suitable for site characterization because the evidence does not support a conclusion that the site will not be able to meet each of the qualifying conditions specified in the guidelines. On the basis of these findings, the DOE is nominating the Yucca Mountain site as of five sites suitable for characterization.

This site characterization plan (SCP) has been developed for the candidate repository site at Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada. The SCP includes a description of the Yucca Mountain site (Chapters 1-5), a conceptual design for the repository (Chapter 6), a description of the packaging to be used for the waste to be emplaced in the repository (Chapter 7), and a description of the planned site characterization activities (Chapter 8). The schedules and milestones presented in Sections 8.3 and 8.5 of the SCP were developed to be consistent with the June 1988 draft Amendment to the DOE`s Mission Plan for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. The five month delay in the scheduled start of exploratory shaft construction that was announced recently is not reflected in these schedules.

To help the public better understand both the SCP and the site characterization program, the DOE has prepared this overview and the SCP Public Handbook. The overview presents summaries of selected topics covered in the SCP; it is not a substitute for the SCP. The organization of the overview is similar to that of the SCP itself, with brief descriptions of the Yucca Mountain site, the repository, and the containers in which the waste would be packaged, followed by a discussion of the characterization program to be carried out at the Yucca Mountain site. This overview is intended primarily for those persons who want to understand the general scope and basis of the site-characterization program, the activities to be conducted, and the facilities to be constructed without spending the time necessary to become familiar with all of the technical details presented in the SCP. For the readers of the SCP, the overview will be useful as a general guide to the plan. The SCP Public Handbook is a short document that contains brief descriptions of the SCP process and the contents of the SCP. It also explains how the public can submit comments on the SCP and lists the libraries and reading rooms at which the SCP is available. 9 refs., 18 tabs.

The Denver groundwater basin encompasses approximately 6,700 square miles, extending east from the Front Range of the RockyMountains. This structural basin contains four Cretaceous bedrock aquifers overlain by a regional Quaternary alluvial aquifer. The Rocky Flats Site is located on the northwest margin of the basin. The shallow groundwater system at the Rocky Flats Site is divided into upper and lower hydrostratigraphic units (UHSU and LHSU, respectively). The UHSU at the Rocky Flats site comprises Quaternary alluvium, colluvium, valley-fill alluvium, artificial fill, weathered bedrock of the undifferentiated Arapahoe and Laramie formations and all sandstones that are hydraulically connected with overlying surficial groundwater. The LHSU comprises unweathered claystone with interbedded siltstones and sandstones of the undifferentiated Arapahoe and Laramie formations. The contact separating the UHSU and LHSU is identified as the base of the weathered zone. The separation of hydrostratigraphic units is supported by the contrasting permeabilities of the units comprising the UHSU and LHSU, well hydrograph data indicating that the units respond differently to seasonal recharge events, and geochemical data reflecting distinct major ion chemistries in the groundwaters of the UHSU and LHSU. Surface-water/groundwater interactions at the Rocky Flats site generally respond to seasonal fluctuations in precipitation, recharge, groundwater storage, and stream and ditch flow. Effluent conditions are dominant in the spring along western stream segments and influent conditions are common in the late summer and fall along most stream reaches.

A hydrogeochemical ground water orientation study was conducted in the multi-mineralized area of the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas in order to evaluate the usefulness of ground water as a sampling medium for uranium exploration in similar areas. Ninety-three springs and nine wells were sampled in Clark, Garland, Hot Springs, Howard, Montgomery, Pike, Polk, and Sevier Counties. Manganese, barite, celestite, cinnabar, stibnite, copper, lead, and zinc are present. The following parameters were determined: pH, conductivity, alkalinity, U, Br, Cl, F, He, Mn, Na, V, Al, Dy, NO/sub 3/, NH/sub 3/, SO/sub 4/, and PO/sub 4/. The minerals appear to significantly affect the chemistry of the ground water. This report is issued in draft form, without detailed technical and copy editing. This was done to make the report available to the public before the end of the National Uranium Resource Evaluation.

Department of Energy Evolution of a Groundwater Treatment System-Rocky Flats, Colorado, Site Evolution of a Groundwater Treatment System-Rocky Flats, Colorado, Site January 13, 2015 - 5:18pm Addthis What does this project do? Goal 1. Protect human health and the environment. A project to reconfigure the East Trenches Plume Treatment System (ETPTS) at the Rocky Flats site, to improve treatment effectiveness and meet the strict water quality standards in the area, is scheduled to be completed

07 1 September 2007 Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement: Natural Gas in the RockyMountains: Developing Infrastructure 1 Highlights * Recent natural gas spot market volatility in the RockyMountain States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming has been the result of increased production while consumption and pipeline export capacity have remained limited. This Supplement analyzes current natural gas production, pipeline and storage infrastructure in the RockyMountains, as well as prospective pipeline

Yucca Mountain (YM), Nevada, has been proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy as the nationâ€™s first permanent geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and highlevel radioactive waste. In this study, the potential for groundwater advective pathways from underground nuclear testing areas on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) to intercept the subsurface of the proposed land withdrawal area for the repository is investigated. The timeframe for advective travel and its uncertainty for possible radionuclide movement along these flow pathways is estimated as a result of effective-porosity value uncertainty for the hydrogeologic units (HGUs) along the flow paths. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the most influential HGUs on the advective radionuclide travel times from the NTS to the YM area. Groundwater pathways are obtained using the particle tracking package MODPATH and flow results from the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system (DVRFS) model developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Effectiveporosity values for HGUs along these pathways are one of several parameters that determine possible radionuclide travel times between the NTS and proposed YM withdrawal areas. Values and uncertainties of HGU porosities are quantified through evaluation of existing site effective-porosity data and expert professional judgment and are incorporated in the model through Monte Carlo simulations to estimate mean travel times and uncertainties. The simulations are based on two steady-state flow scenarios, the pre-pumping (the initial stress period of the DVRFS model), and the 1998 pumping (assuming steady-state conditions resulting from pumping in the last stress period of the DVRFS model) scenarios for the purpose of long-term prediction and monitoring. The pumping scenario accounts for groundwater withdrawal activities in the Amargosa Desert and other areas downgradient of YM. Considering each detonation in a clustered region around Pahute Mesa (in

This report contains a 1:6000 scale map of the 3-mile by 4-mile rectangular area surrounding the Rocky Flats Plant. The map shows the surface deposits estimated to be at least one meter thick. The accompanying report contains a detailed description of the map units, a discussion of the Rocky Flats alluvium and landslides, and cited references. 37 references.

Public responses to nuclear technologies are often strongly negative. Events, such as accidents or evidence of unsafe conditions at nuclear facilities, receive extensive and dramatic coverage by the news media. These news stories affect public perceptions of nuclear risks and the geographic areas near nuclear facilities. One result of these perceptions, avoidance behavior, is a form of technological stigma that leads to losses in property values near nuclear facilities. The social amplification of risk is a conceptual framework that attempts to explain how stigma is created through media transmission of information about hazardous places and public perceptions and decisions. This paper examines stigma associated with the US Department of energy`s Rocky Flats facility, a major production plant in the nation`s nuclear weapons complex, located near Denver, Colorado. This study, based upon newspaper analyses and a survey of Denver area residents, finds that the social amplification theory provides a reasonable framework for understanding the events and public responses that took place in regard to Rocky Flats during a 6-year period, beginning with an FBI raid of the facility in 1989.

Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada is a prominent, irregularly shaped upland formed by a thick apron of Miocene pyroclastic-flow and fallout tephra deposits, with minor lava flows, that was segmented by through-going, large-displacement normal faults into a series of north-trending, eastwardly tilted structural blocks. The principal volcanic-rock units are the Tiva Canyon and Topopah Spring Tuffs of the Paintbrush Group, which consist of volumetrically large eruptive sequences derived from compositionally distinct magma bodies in the nearby southwestern Nevada volcanic field, and are classic examples of a magmatic zonation characterized by an upper crystal-rich (> 10% crystal fragments) member, a more voluminous lower crystal-poor (< 5% crystal fragments) member, and an intervening thin transition zone. Rocks within the crystal-poor member of the Topopah Spring Tuff, lying some 280 m below the crest of Yucca Mountain, constitute the proposed host rock to be excavated for the storage of high-level radioactive wastes. Separation of the tuffaceous rock formations into subunits that allow for detailed mapping and structural interpretations is based on macroscopic features, most importantly the relative abundance of lithophysae and the degree of welding. The latter feature, varying from nonwelded through partly and moderately welded to densely welded, exerts a strong control on matrix porosities and other rock properties that provide essential criteria for distinguishing hydrogeologic and thermal-mechanical units, which are of major interest in evaluating the suitability of Yucca Mountain to host a safe and permanent geologic repository for waste storage. A thick and varied sequence of surficial deposits mantle large parts of the Yucca Mountain site area. Mapping of these deposits and associated soils in exposures and in the walls of trenches excavated across buried faults provides evidence for multiple surface-rupturing events along all of the major faults during

Past plutonium production and manufacturing operations conducted at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) produced a variety of plutonium-contaminated by-product materials. Residues are a category of these materials and were categorized as {open_quotes}materials in-process{close_quotes} to be recovered due to their inherent plutonium concentrations. In 1989 all RFETS plutonium production and manufacturing operations were curtailed. This report describes the management of plutonium bearing liquid and solid wastes.

This site characterization plan (SCP) has been developed for the candidate repository site at Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada. The SCP includes a description of the Yucca Mountain site (Chapters 1-5), a conceptual design for the repository (Chapter 6), a description of the packaging to be used for the waste to be emplaced in the repository (Chapter 7), and a description of the planned site characterization activities (Chapter 8). The schedules and milestones presented in Sections 8.3 and 8.5 of the SCP were developed to be consistent with the June 1988 draft Amendment to the DOE`s Mission Plan for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. The five month delay in the scheduled start of exploratory shaft construction that was announced recently is not reflected in these schedules. 750 refs., 123 figs., 42 tabs.

This site characterization plan (SCP) has been developed for the candidate repository site at Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada. The SCP includes a description of the Yucca Mountain site (Chapters 1-5), a conceptual design for the repository (Chapter 6), a description of the packaging to be used for the waste to be emplaced in the repository (Chapter 7), and a description of the planned site characterization activities (Chapter 8). The schedules and milestones presented in Sections 8.3 and 8.5 of the SCP were developed to be consistent with the June 1988 draft Amendment to the DOE`s Mission Plan for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. The five month delay in the scheduled start of exploratory shaft construction that was announced recently is not reflected in these schedules. 218 figs., 50 tabs.

Rocky Flats Site, Colorado A CERCLA and/or RCRA Site RockyFlats2014 Remediation at the Rocky Flats Site was conducted in accordance with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and/or Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations. Responsibility for operation and maintenance of the site was transferred to LM in October 2005 and requires operation and maintenance of remedial action systems, routine inspection and maintenance, records-related

The Rocky Flats Closure Project has completed the process of stabilizing residual nuclear materials, decommissioning nuclear facilities, remediating environmental media and closing the Rocky Flats Site (Site). The project cost approximately $4.1 B and included the decommissioning of over 700 structures including 5 major plutonium facilities and 5 major uranium facilities, shipping over 14,600 cubic meters of transuranic and 565,000 cubic meters of low level radioactive waste, and remediating a 385-acre industrial area and the surrounding land. Actual costs were collected for a large variety of closure activities. These costs can be correlated with metrics associated with the facilities and environmental media to capture cost factors from the project that could be applicable to a variety of other closure projects both within and outside of the Department of Energy's weapons complex. The paper covers four general topics: the process to correlate the actual costs and metrics, an example of the correlated data for one large sub-project, a discussion of the results, and the additional activities that are planned to correlate and make this data available to the public. The process to collect and arrange the project control data of the Closure Project relied on the actual Closure Project cost information. It was used to correlate these actual costs with the metrics for the physical work, such as building area or waste generated, to support the development of parametric cost factors. The example provides cost factors for the Industrial Sites Project. The discussion addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the data, followed by a section identifying future activities to improve and extend the analyses and integrate it within the Department's Environmental Cost Analysis System. (authors)

The Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is one of three candidate sites for the first geologic repository for radioactive waste. On May 28, 1986, it was recommended for detailed study in a program of site characterization. This site characterization plan (SCP) has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to summarize the information collected to date about the geologic conditions at the site; to describe the conceptual designs for the repository and the waste package and to present the plans for obtaining the geologic information necessary to demonstrate the suitability of the site for a repository, to design the repository and the waste package, to prepare an environmental impact statement, and to obtain from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an authorization to construct the repository. Chapter 3 summarizes present knowledge of the regional and site hydrologic systems. The purpose of the information presented is to (1) describe the hydrology based on available literature and preliminary site-exploration activities that have been or are being performed and (2) provide information to be used to develop the hydrologic aspects of the planned site characterization program. Chapter 4 contains geochemical information about the Yucca Mountain site. The chapter references plan for continued collection of geochemical data as a part of the site characterization program. Chapter 4 describes and evaluates data on the existing climate and site meterology, and outlines the suggested procedures to be used in developing and validating methods to predict future climatic variation. 534 refs., 100 figs., 72 tabs.

It is well-known that both mountain waves and katabatic flows frequently form in the severe relief of the Front Range of the RockyMountains. Occasionally these phenomena have been found to occur simultaneously. Generally, however, the large body of literature regarding them has treated each individually, seldom venturing into the regime of their potential interaction. The exceptions to this rule are Arritt and Pielke (1986), Barr and Orgill (1989). Gudiksen et al. (1992), Moriarty (1984), Orgill et al. (1992), Orgill and Schreck (1985). Neff and King (1988), Stone and Hoard (1989), Whiteman and Doran (1993) and Ying and Baopu (1993). The simulations overviewed here attempt to reproduce both atmospheric features simultaneously for two case days during the 1993 ASCOT observational program near Rocky Flats, Colorado.

Safely accelerating the closure of Rocky Flats to 2006 is a goal shared by many: the State of Colorado, the communities surrounding the site, the U.S. Congress, the Department of Energy, Kaiser-Hill and its team of subcontractors, the site's employees, and taxpayers across the country. On June 30, 2000, Kaiser-Hill (KH) submitted to the Department of Energy (DOE), KH's plan to achieve closure of Rocky Flats by December 15, 2006, for a remaining cost of $3.96 billion (February 1, 2000, to December 15, 2006). The Closure Project Baseline (CPB) is the detailed project plan for accomplishing this ambitious closure goal. This paper will provide a status report on the progress being made toward the closure goal. This paper will: provide a summary of the closure contract completion criteria; give the current cost and schedule variance of the project and the status of key activities; detail important accomplishments of the past year; and discuss the challenges ahead.

With shrinking budgets and downsizing, a need for streamlined compliance initiatives became evident at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). Therefore, RockyMountain Remediation Services (RMRS) at the RFETS successfully and quickly modified the RFETS RCRA Part B Permit to obtain significant cost savings and increased flexibility. This `was accomplished by requesting operations personnel to suggest changes to the Part B Permit which did not diminish overall compliance and which would be most. cost beneficial. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) subsequently obtained approval of those changes from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE).

The Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is one of three candidate sites for the first geologic repository for radioactive waste. On May 28, 1986, it was recommended for detailed study in a program of site characterization. This site characterization plan (SCP) has been prepared in acordance with the requirements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to summarize the information collected to date about the geologic conditions at the site;to describe the conceptual designs for the repository and the waste package and to present the plans for obtaining the geologic information necessary to demonstrate the suitability of the site for a repository, to design the repository and the waste package, to prepare an environmental impact statement, and to obtain from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an authorization to construct the repository. This introduction begins with a brief section on the process for siting and eveloping a repository, followed by a discussion of the pertinent legislation and regulations. A description of site characterization is presented next;it describes the facilities to be constructed for the site characterization program and explains the principal activities to be conducted during the program. Finally, the purpose, content, organizing prinicples, and organization of this site characterization plan are outlined, and compliance with applicable regulations is discussed. 880 refs., 130 figs., 25 tabs.

The Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is one of three candidate sites for the first geologic repository for radioactive waste. On May 28, 1986, it was recommended by the Secretary of Energy and approved by the President for detailed study in a program of site characterization. This site characterization plan (SCP) has been prepared by the US Department of Energy (DOE) in accordance with the requirements of the Nulcear Waste Policy Act to summarize the information collected to date about the geologic conditions at the site;to describe the conceptual designs for the repository and the waste package;and to present the plans for obtaining the geologic information necessary to demonstrate the suitability of the site for a repository, to design the repository and the waste package, to prepare an environmental impact statement, and to obtain from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an authorization to construct the repository. This introduction begins with a brief section on the process for siting and developing a repository, followed by a discussion of the pertinent legislation and regulations. A description of site characterization is presented next;it describes the facilities to be constructed for the site characterization program and explains the principal activities to be conducted during the program. Finally, the purpose, content, organizing principles, and organization of the site characterization plan are oulined, and compliance with applicable regulations is discussed.

The Yucca Mountain site in Neavada is one of three candidate sites for the first geologic repository for radioactive waste. On May 28, 1986, it was recommended and approved for detailed study in a program of site characterization. This site characterization plan (SCP) has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to summarize the information collected to date about the geologic conditions at the site;to describe the conceptual designs for the repository and the waste package;and to present the plans for obtaining hte geologic information necessary to demonstrate the suitability of the site for a repository, to design the repository and the waste package, to prepare and environmental impact statement, and to obtain from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an authorization to construct the repository. This introduction begins with a brief section on the process for siting and developing a repository, followed by a discussion of the pertinent legislation and regulations. A description of site characterization is presented next;it describes the facilities to be constructed for the site characterization program and explains the principal activities to be conducted during the program. Finally, the purpose, content, organizing principles, and organization of this site characterization plan are outlined, and compliance with applicable regulations is discussed.

The Yucca Mountain site in Nevada is one of three candidate sites for the first geologic repository for radioactive waste. On May 28, 1986, it was recommended for detailed study in a program of site characterization. This site characterization plan (SCP) has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to summarize the information collected to date about the geologic conditions at the site;to describe the conceptual designs for the repository and the waste package;and to present the plans for obtaining the geologic information necessary to demonstrate the suitability of the site for repository, to design the repository and the waste package, to prepare an environmental impact statement, and to obtain from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an authorization to construct the repository. This introduction begins with a brief section on the process for siting and developing a repository, followed by a discussion of the pertinent legislation and regulations. A description of site characterization is presented next;it describes the facilities to be constructed for the site characterization program and explains the principal activities to be conducted during the program. Finally, the purpose, content, organizing principles, and organization of this site characterization plan are outlined, and compliance with applicable regulations is discussed.

Rocky Flats Ash items have been identified as the next set of materials to be stabilized. This test is being run to determine charge sizes and soak times to completely stabilize the Rocky Flats Ash items. The information gathered will be used to generate the heating rampup cycle for stabilization. This test will also gain information on the effects of the glovebox atmosphere (moisture) on the stabilized material. This document provides instructions for testing Rocky Flats Ash in the HC-21C muffle furnace process.

Rocky Flats Ash items have been identified as the next set of materials to be stabilized. This test is being run to determine charge sizes and soak times to completely stabilize the Rocky Flats Ash items. The information gathered will be used to generate the heating rampup cycle for stabilization. The test will provide information to determine charge sizes, soak times and mesh screen sizes (if available at time of test) for stabilization of Rocky Flats Ash items to be processed in the HC-21C Muffle Furnace Process. Once the charge size and soak times have been established, a program for the temperature controller of the HC-21C Muffle Furnace process will be generated for processing Rocky Flats Ash.

The Rocky Flats Beryllium Health Surveillance Program (BHSP), initiated in June 1991, was designed to provide medical surveillance for current and former employees exposed to beryllium. The BHSP identifies individuals who have developed beryllium sensitivity using the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT). A detailed medical evaluation to determine the prevalence of chronic beryllium disease (CBD) is offered to individuals identified as beryllium sensitized or to those who have chest X-ray changes suggestive of CBD. The BHSP has identified 27 cases of CBD and another 74 cases of beryllium sensitization out of 4268 individuals tested. The distribution of BeLPT values for normal, sensitized, and CBD-identified individuals is described. Based on the information collected during the first 3 1/3 years of the BHSP, the BeLPT is the most effective means for the early identification of beryllium-sensitized individuals and to identify individuals who may have CBD. The need for BeLPT retesting is demonstrated through the identification of beryllium sensitization in individuals who previously tested normal. Posterior/anterior chest X-rays were not effective in the identification of CBD. 12 refs., 8 tabs.

The Department of Energy (DOE) established the Office of Technology Development (EM-50) (OTD) as an element of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) in November 1989. The primary objective of the Office of Technology Development, Rocky Flats Compliance Program (RFCP), is to develop altemative treatment technologies for mixed low-level waste (wastes containing both hazardous and radioactive components) to use in bringing the Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) into compliance with Federal and state regulations and agreements. Approximately 48,000 cubic feet of untreated low-level mixed waste, for which treatment has not been specified, are stored at the RFP. The cleanup of the Rocky Flats site is driven by agreements between DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Colorado Department of Health (CDH). Under these agreements, a Comprehensive Treatment and Management Plan (CTMP) was drafted to outline the mechanisms by which RFP will achieve compliance with the regulations and agreements. This document describes DOE`s strategy to treat low-level mixed waste to meet Land Disposal Restrictions and sets specific milestones related to the regulatory aspects of technology development. These milestones detail schedules for the development of technologies to treat all of the mixed wastes at the RFP. Under the Federal Facilities Compliance Act (FFCA), the CTMP has been incorporated into Rocky Flats Plant Conceptual Site Treatment Plan (CSTP). The CSTP will become the Rocky Flats Plant site Treatment Plan in 1995 and will supersede the CTMP.

The Rocky Flats (RFP) recycling programs for solid waste materials have been in place for over ten years. Within the last three years, the programs were centralized under the direction of the Rocky Flats Waste Minimization department, with the assistance of various plant organizations (e.g., Trucking, Building Services, Regulated Waste Operations, property Utilization and Disposal and Security). Waste Minimization designs collection and transportation systems for recyclable materials and evaluates recycling markets for opportunities to add new commodities to the existing programs. The Waste Minimization department also promotes employee participation in the Rocky Flats Recycling Programs, and collects all recycling data for publication. A description of the program status as of January 1994 is given.

The purpose of this quality assurance program was to ensure the quality and technical adequacy of Phase 2 of the Analysis of Offsite Emergency Planning Zones (EPZ) for the Rocky Flats Plant project. Quality assurance was accomplished by managing and controlling the processes in the development of the product. The quality assurance task team conducted audits, reviews, and surveillances of project and related activities. This process contributed to identifying areas where the quality assurance plan was not fully implemented, areas needing improvement, and/or corrective actions resulting in a improved product. During the reviews and audits, several key areas were identified where quality assurance plan implementation needed to be improved. These areas included maintaining adequate documentation, reviewing technical results, making inputs traceable to technical results, and understanding that all personnel are responsible for quality.

This report describes the issues evaluation process for Rocky Flats Plant as established in July 1990. The issues evaluation process was initiated February 27, 1990 with a Charter and Process Overview for short-term implementation. The purpose of the process was to determine the projects required for completion before the Phased Resumption of Plutonium Operations. To determine which projects were required, the issues evaluation process and emphasized risk mitigation, based on a ranking system. The purpose of this report is to document the early design of the issues evaluation process to record the methodologies used that continue as the basis for the ongoing Issues Management Program at Rocky Flats Plant.

EG&G Rocky Flats, Inc., has developed a chemical tracking system to support compliance with the Emergency Planning and community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) at the Rocky Flats Plant. This system, referred to as the EPCRA Chemical Control system (ECCS), uses bar code technology to uniquely identify and track the receipt, distribution, and use of chemicals. Chemical inventories are conducted using hand-held electronic scanners to update a site wide chemical database on a VAX 6000 computer. Information from the ECCS supports preparation of the EPCRA Tier II and Form R reports on chemical storage and use.

March 2000 | Department of Energy Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site - March 2000 Independent Oversight Review, Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site - March 2000 March 2000 Review of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site Transportation Emergency Management Program This report provides the results of an independent review of the Transportation Emergency Management Program at the Department of Energy's Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site that was conducted by the

April 2001 | Department of Energy Rocky Flats Closure Project Site - April 2001 Independent Oversight Special Review, Rocky Flats Closure Project Site - April 2001 April 2001 Special Review of the Rocky Flats Closure Project Site This report provides the results of a Special Review at the Rocky Flats Closure Project that was performed U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Independent Environment, Safety, and Health Oversight. The Special Review was conducted in February and March 2001

Proposals for demonstration work under the Department of Energy`s Mixed Waste Focus Area, during the 1996 through 1997 fiscal years included two applications of supercritical carbon dioxide to mixed waste pretreatment. These proposals included task RF15MW58 of Rocky Flats and task RL46MW59 of Hanford. Analysis of compatibilities in wastes and work scopes yielded an expectation of substantial collaboration between sites whereby Hanford waste streams may undergo demonstration testing at Rocky Flats, thereby eliminating the need for test facilities at Hanford. This form of collaboration is premised the continued deployment at Rocky Flats and the capability for Hanford samples to be treated at Rocky Flats. The recent creation of a thermal treatment contract for a facility near Hanford may alleviate the need to conduct organic extraction upon Rocky Flats wastes by providing a cost effective thermal treatment alternative, however, some waste streams at Hanford will continue to require organic extraction. Final site waste stream treatment locations are not within the scope of this document.

The goals of this project were: (1) To enhance recovery of oil contained within algal mounds on the Ute Mountain Ute tribal lands. (2) To promote the use of advanced technology and expand the technical capability of the Native American Oil production corporations by direct assistance in the current project and dissemination of technology to other Tribes. (3) To develop an understanding of multicomponent seismic data as it relates to the variations in permeability and porosity of algal mounds, as well as lateral facies variations, for use in both reservoir development and exploration. (4) To identify any undiscovered algal mounds for field-extension within the area of seismic coverage. (5) To evaluate the potential for applying CO{sub 2} floods, steam floods, water floods or other secondary or tertiary recovery processes to increase production. The technical work scope was carried out by: (1) Acquiring multicomponent seismic data over the project area; (2) Processing and reprocessing the multicomponent data to extract as much geological and engineering data as possible within the budget and time-frame of the project; (3) Preparing maps and data volumes of geological and engineering data based on the multicomponent seismic and well data; (4) Selecting drilling targets if warranted by the seismic interpretation; (5) Constructing a static reservoir model of the project area; and (6) Constructing a dynamic history-matched simulation model from the static model. The original project scope covered a 6 mi{sup 2} (15.6 km{sup 2}) area encompassing two algal mound fields (Towaoc and Roadrunner). 3D3C seismic data was to acquired over this area to delineate mound complexes and image internal reservoir properties such as porosity and fluid saturations. After the project began, the Red Willow Production Company, a project partner and fully-owned company of the Southern Ute Tribe, contributed additional money to upgrade the survey to a nine-component (3D9C) survey. The purpose

As Rocky Flats and other DOE facilities begin the transition process towards decommissioning, the nature of the scenarios to be studied in safety analysis will change. Whereas the previous emphasis in safety accidents related to production, now the emphasis is shifting to accidents related tc decommissioning and waste management. Accident scenarios of concern at Rocky Flats now include situations of a different nature and different scale than are represented by most of the existing experimental accident data. This presentation will discuss approaches@to use for applying the existing body of release fraction data to this new emphasis. Mention will also be made of ongoing efforts to produce new data and improve the understanding of physical mechanisms involved.

The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) is developing an immobilization process for graphite fines residues generated during nuclear materials production activities at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (Rocky Flats). The continued storage of this material has been identified as an item of concern. The residue was generated during the cleaning of graphite casting molds and potentially contains reactive plutonium metal. The average residue composition is 73 wt% graphite, 15 wt% calcium fluoride (CaF{sub 2}), and 12 wt% plutonium oxide (PuO{sub 2}). Approximately 950 kg of this material are currently stored at Rocky Flats. The strategy of the immobilization process is to microencapsulate the residue by mixing with a sodium borosilicate (NBS) glass frit and heating at nominally 700 C. The resulting waste form would be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for disposal. Since the PuO{sub 2} concentration in the residue averages 12 wt%, the immobilization process was required to meet the intent of safeguards termination criteria by limiting plutonium recoverability based on a test developed by Rocky Flats. The test required a plutonium recovery of less than 4 g/kg of waste form when a sample was leached using a nitric acid/CaF{sub 2} dissolution flowsheet. Immobilization experiments were performed using simulated graphite fines with cerium oxide (CeO{sub 2}) as a surrogate for PuO{sub 2} and with actual graphite fines residues. Small-scale surrogate experiments demonstrated that a 4:1 frit to residue ratio was adequate to prevent recovery of greater than 4 g/kg of cerium from simulated waste forms. Additional experiments investigated the impact of varying concentrations of CaF{sub 2} and the temperature/heating time cycle on the cerium recovery. Optimal processing conditions developed during these experiments were subsequently demonstrated at full-scale with surrogate materials and on a smaller scale using actual graphite fines.

Safely closing Rocky Flats by December 2006 is a goal shared by many: the State of Colorado, the communities surrounding the site, the U.S. Congress, the Department of Energy (DOE), Kaiser-Hill and its team of subcontractors, the site's employees and taxpayers across the country. This paper will: provide a status of the Closure Project to date; describe important accomplishments of the past year; describe some of the closure-enhancing technologies enabling acceleration; and discuss the remaining challenges ahead.

The Microwave Engineering Team at the Rocky Flats Plant has developed a production-scale system for the treatment of hazardous, radioactive, and mixed wastes using microwave energy. The system produces a vitreous final form which meets the acceptance criteria for shipment and disposal. The technology also has potential for application on various other waste streams from the public and private sectors. Technology transfer opportunities are being identified and pursued for commercialization of the microwave solidification technology.

The Generic TRUEX Model was used to develop a TRUEX process flowsheet for recovering the transuranics (Pu, Am) from a nitrate waste stream at Rocky Flats Plant. The process was designed so that it is relatively insensitive to changes in process feed concentrations and flow rates. Related issues are considered, including solvent losses, feed analysis requirements, safety, and interaction with an evaporator system for nitric acid recycle.

This site characterization plan (SCP) has been developed for the candidate repository site at Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada. The SCP includes a description of the Yucca Mountain site (Chapters 1-5), a conceptual design for the repository (Chapter 6), a description of the packaging to be used for the waste to be emplaced in the repository (Chapter 7), and a description of the planned site characterization activities (Chapter 8). The schedules and milestones presented in Sections 8.3 and 8.5 of the SCP were developed to be consistent with the June 1988 draft Amendment to the DOE`s Mission Plan for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. The five month delay in the scheduled start of exploratory shaft construction that was announced recently is not reflected in these schedules. 74 figs., 32 tabs.

This site characterization plan (SCP) has been developed for the candidate repository site at Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada. The SCP includes a description of the Yucca Mountain site (Chapters 1--5), a conceptual design for the repository (Chapter 6), a description of the packaging to be used for the waste to be emplaced in the repository (Chapter 7), and a description of the planned site characterization activities (Chapter 8). The schedules and milestones presented in Sections 8.3 and 8.5 of the SCP were developed to be consistent with the June 1988 draft Amendment to the DOE`s Mission Plan for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. The five month delay in the scheduled start of exploratory shaft construction that was announced recently is not reflected in these schedules. 575 refs., 84 figs., 68 tabs.

A precipitation monitoring station was placed on the west flank of Timber Mountain during the year 2010. It is located in an isolated highland area near the western border of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), south of Pahute Mesa. The cost of the equipment, permitting, and installation was provided by the Environmental Monitoring Systems Initiative (EMSI) project. Data collection, analysis, and maintenance of the station during fiscal year 2011 was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Site Office Environmental Restoration, Soils Activity. The station is located near the western headwaters of Forty Mile Wash on the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). Overland flows from precipitation events that occur in the Timber Mountain high elevation area cross several of the contaminated Soils project CAU (Corrective Action Unit) sites located in the Forty Mile Wash watershed. Rain-on-snow events in the early winter and spring around Timber Mountain have contributed to several significant flow events in Forty Mile Wash. The data from the new precipitation gauge at Timber Mountain will provide important information for determining runoff response to precipitation events in this area of the NNSS. Timber Mountain is also a groundwater recharge area, and estimation of recharge from precipitation was important for the EMSI project in determining groundwater flowpaths and designing effective groundwater monitoring for Yucca Mountain. Recharge estimation additionally provides benefit to the Underground Test Area Sub-project analysis of groundwater flow direction and velocity from nuclear test areas on Pahute Mesa. Additionally, this site provides data that has been used during wild fire events and provided a singular monitoring location of the extreme precipitation events during December 2010 (see data section for more details). This letter report provides a summary of the site location, equipment, and data collected in

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Rocky Flats Site was established in 1951 as part of the United States' nationwide nuclear weapons complex to manufacture nuclear weapons components. In 1992 weapons production halted, and the Rocky Flats mission changed to include environmental investigations, cleanup, and site closure. In October 2005, DOE and its contractor completed an accelerated 10-year, $7 billion cleanup of chemical and radiological contamination left from nearly 50 years of production. The cleanup required the decommissioning, decontamination, demolition, and removal of more than 800 structures; removal of more than 500,000 cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste; and remediation of more than 360 potentially contaminated environmental sites. The final remedy for the site was selected in September 2006 and included institutional controls, physical controls, and continued monitoring for the former industrial portion of the site. The remainder of the site, which served as a buffer zone surrounding the former industrial area, was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in July 2007 for a national wildlife refuge. DOE's Office of Legacy Management is responsible for the long-term surveillance and maintenance of Rocky Flats, which includes remedy implementation activities and general site maintenance. Several factors have complicated the transition from closure to post-closure at Rocky Flats. The early experiences associated with the two years since the physical cleanup and closure work were completed have led to several valuable lessons learned. (authors)

This report provides a summary of progress for the project ``Evaluation of the Geologic Relations and Seismotectonic Stability of the Yucca MountainArea, Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Investigation (NNWSI)`` for the eighteen month period of January 1, 1987 to June 10, 1988. This final report was preceded by the final report for the initial six month period, July 1, 1986 to December 31, 1986 (submitted on January 25, 1987, and revised in June 1987.) Quaternary Tectonics, Geochemical, Mineral Deposits, Vulcanic Geology, Seismology, Tectonics, Neotectonics, Remote Sensing, Geotechnical Assessments, Geotechnical Rock Mass Assessments, Basinal Studies, and Strong Ground Motion.

Repackaging legacy Transuranic (TRU), Transuranic Mixed (TRM), Low Level Waste (LLW), and Low Level Mixed (LLM) waste requires good characterization skills and the ability to adapt to less than ideal conditions. Repackaging legacy waste in a facility that is not undergoing Decontamination and Decommission (D and D) is optimum. However, repackaging any waste in a D and D facility, under cold and dark conditions, can be difficult. Cold and dark conditions are when the heating and air conditioning are no longer in service and the lighting consists of strands of lights hung throughout each of the rooms. Working under these conditions adds an additional level of stress and danger that must be addressed. The use of glovebags was very useful at Rocky Flats during the D and D of many buildings. Glovebags can be adapted for many different types of wastes and unusual conditions. Repackaging of legacy TRU waste, in a D and D facility, can be accomplished safely and cost effectively with the use of glovebags. In conclusion: the use of glovebags to repackage legacy TRU, TRM, LLW, or LLM waste was done safely and cost effectively at Rocky Flats. The cost of using glovebags was minimal. Glovebags are easily adaptable to whatever the waste configuration is. The use of glovebags, for repackaging of Legacy waste, allows D and D efforts to stay on schedule and on task. Without the use of glovebags, additional gloveboxes would have been required at Rocky Flats. Larger items, such as the HEPA filters, would have required the construction of a new large item repackaging glovebox. Repackaging in glovebags allows the freedom to either locate the glovebag by the waste or locate the glovebag in a place that least impacts D and D efforts. The use of glovebags allowed numerous configurations of waste to be repackaged without the use of gloveboxes. During the D and D of the Rocky Flats facility, which was in a cold and dark stage, D and D work was not impacted by the repackaging activity

Surface soils in the 903 Pad Lip Area of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) were contaminated with {sup 239/240}Pu by site operations. To meet remediation goals, accurate definition of areas where {sup 239/240}Pu activity exceeded the threshold level of 50 pCi/g and those below 50- pCi/g needed definition. In addition, the confidence for remedial decisions needed to be quantified and displayed visually. Remedial objectives needed to achieve a 90 percent certainty that unremediated soils had less than a 10 percent chance of {sup 239/240}Pu activity exceeding 50-pCi/g. Removing areas where the chance of exceedance is greater than 10 percent creates a 90 percent confidence in the remedial effort results. To achieve the stipulated goals, the geostatistical approach of probability kriging (Myers 1997) was implemented. Lessons learnt: Geostatistical techniques provided a risk-quantified approach to remedial decision-making and provided visualizations of the excavation area. Error analysis demonstrated compliance and confirmed that more than sufficient soils were removed. Error analysis also illustrated that any soils above the threshold that were not removed would be of nominal activity. These quantitative approaches were useful from a regulatory, engineering, and stakeholder satisfaction perspective.

Work is underway at the Rocky Flats Plant to evaluate alternatives for the removal of a large inventory of plutonium-contaminated residues from the plant. One alternative under consideration is to package the residues as transuranic wastes for ultimate shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Current waste acceptance criteria and transportation regulations require that approximately 1000 cubic yards of residues be repackaged to produce over 20,000 cubic yards of WIPP certified waste. The major regulatory drivers leading to this increase in waste volume are the fissile gram equivalent, surface radiation dose rate, and thermal power limits. In the interest of waste minimization, analyses have been conducted to determine, for each residue type, the controlling criterion leading to the volume increase, the impact of relaxing that criterion on subsequent waste volume, and the means by which rules changes may be implemented. The results of this study have identified the most appropriate changes to be proposed in regulatory requirements in order to minimize the costs of disposing of Rocky Flats residues as transuranic wastes.

Work is underway at the Rocky Flats Plant to evaluate alternatives for the removal of a large inventory of plutonium-contaminated residues from the plant. One alternative under consideration is to package the residues as transuranic wastes for ultimate shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Current waste acceptance criteria and transportation regulations require that approximately 1000 cubic yards of residues be repackaged to produce over 20,000 cubic yards of WIPP certified waste. The major regulatory drivers leading to this increase in waste volume are the fissile gram equivalent, surface radiation dose rate, and thermal power limits. In the interest of waste minimization, analyses have been conducted to determine, for each residue type, the controlling criterion leading to the volume increase, the impact of relaxing that criterion on subsequent waste volume, and the means by which rules changes may be implemented. The results of this study have identified the most appropriate changes to be proposed in regulatory requirements in order to minimize the costs of disposing of Rocky Flats residues as transuranic wastes.

The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) is developing an immobilization process for graphite fines residues generated during nuclear materials production activities at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (Rocky Flats). The continued storage of this material has been identified as an item of concern. The residue was generated during the cleaning of graphite casting molds and potentially contains reactive plutonium metal. The average residue composition is 73 wt percent graphite, 15 wt percent calcium fluoride (CaF2), and 12 wt percent plutonium oxide (PuO2). Approximately 950 kilograms of this material are currently stored at Rocky Flats. The strategy of the immobilization process is to microencapsulate the residue by mixing with a sodium borosilicate (NBS) glass frit and heating at nominally 700 degrees C. The resulting waste form would be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for disposal. Since the PuO2 concentration in the residue averages 12 wt percent, the immobilization process was required to meet the intent of safeguards termination criteria by limiting plutonium recoverability based on a test developed by Rocky Flats. The test required a plutonium recovery of less than 4 g/kg of waste form when a sample was leached using a nitric acid/CaF2 dissolution flowsheet. Immobilization experiments were performed using simulated graphite fines with cerium oxide (CeO2) as a surrogate for PuO2 and with actual graphite fines residues. Small-scale surrogate experiments demonstrated that a 4:1 frit to residue ratio was adequate to prevent recovery of greater than 4 g/kg of cerium from simulated waste forms. Additional experiments investigated the impact of varying concentrations of CaF2 and the temperature/heating time cycle on the cerium recovery. Optimal processing conditions developed during these experiments were subsequently demonstrated at full-scale with surrogate materials and on a smaller scale using actual graphite fines.In general, the

The variation in the oft-observed, thermally-forced, nocturnal katabatic winds along the east side of the RockyMountains can be explained by either internal variability or interactions with various other forcings. Though generally katabatic flows have been studied as an entity protected from external forcing by strong thermal stratification, this work investigates how drainage winds along the Colorado Front Range interact with, in particular, topographically forced mountain waves. Previous work has shown, based on measurements taken during the Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain 1993 field program, that the actual dispersion in katabatic flows is often greater than reflected in models of dispersion. The interaction of these phenomena is complicated and non-linear since the amplitude, wavelength and vertical structure of mountain waves developed by flow over the RockyMountain barrier are themselves partly determined by the evolving atmospheric stability in which the drainage flows develop. Perturbations to katabatic flow by mountain waves, relative to their more steady form in quiescent conditions, are found to be caused by both turbulence and dynamic pressure effects. The effect of turbulent interaction is to create changes to katabatic now depth, katabatic flow speed, katabatic jet height and, vertical thermal stratification. The pressure effect is found to primarily influence the variability of a given katabatic now through the evolution of integrated column wave forcing on surface pressure. Variability is found to occur on two scales, on the mesoscale due to meso-gamma scale mountain wave evolution, and on the microscale, due to wave breaking. Since existing parameterizations for the statically stable case are predominantly based on nearly flat terrain atmospheric measurements under idealized or nearly quiescent conditions, it is no surprise that these parameterizations often contribute to errors in prediction, particularly in complex terrain.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has the renewable resources and the opportunity to become a national leader in renewable energy production through its local and commercial-scale solar developments due to its proximity to key interconnections in the Four Corners area and interest from various companies that can fund such projects.

The Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) is a nuclear weapons manufacturing facility currently operated by EG G for the US Department of Energy (DOE). RFP is located at the foot of the RockyMountains in Jefferson Country, Colorado. The Fiscal Year 1990 (FY90) Current-Year Work Plan (CYWP) is intended to serve as a guidance document for the Environmental Restoration (ER) and RCRA Compliance programs that will be implemented at RFP. The CYWP provides in one document any cross-references necessary to understand the interrelationships between the CYWP and the DOE Five-Year Plan (FYP), Site-Specific Plan (SSP), and other related documents. The scope of this plan includes comparison of planned FY90 ER activities to those actually achieved. The CYWP has been updated to include Colorado Department of Health (CDH), US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and DOE Inter-Agency Agreement ER activities. It addresses hazardous wastes, radioactive wastes, mixed wastes (radioactive and hazardous), and sanitary wastes. The CYWP also addresses facilities and sites contaminated with or used in management of those wastes.

The Ecological Monitoring Program (ECMP) was established at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (Site) in September 1992. At that time, EcMP staff developed a Program Plan that was peer-reviewed by scientists from western universities before submittal to DOE RFFO in January 1993. The intent of the program is to measure several quantitative variables at different ecological scales in order to characterize the Rocky Flats ecosystem. This information is necessary to document ecological conditions at the Site in impacted and nonimpacted areas to determine if Site practices have had ecological impacts, either positive or negative. This information can be used by managers interested in future use scenarios and CERCLA activities. Others interested in impact analysis may also find the information useful. In addition, these measurements are entered into a database which will serve as a long-term information repository that will document long-term trends and potential future changes to the Site, both natural and anthropogenic.

Tainter gate inspection and thrust bearing cooling system problems at the 1287-MW Rocky Reach hydroelectric project on the Columbia River in Washington are described. Gate inspection was initiated in response to a failure of similar gates at Folsom Dam. The approach involved measuring the actual forces on the gates and comparing them to original model study parameters, rather than the traditional method of building a hydraulic model. Measurement and visual inspection was completed in one day and had no effect on migration flows. Two problems with the thrust bearing cooling system are described. First, whenever a generating unit was taken off line, cooling water continued circulating and lowered oil temperatures. The second problem involved silt buildup in flow measuring device tubes on the cooling water system. Modifications to correct cooling system problems and associated costs are outlined.

This report provides the results of a Technical Safety Appraisal (TSA) of the Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) conducted November 14 to 18 and November 28 to December 9, 1988. This appraisal covered the effectiveness and improvements in the RFP safety program across the site, evaluating progress to date against standards of accepted practice. The appraisal included coverage of the timeliness and effectiveness of actions taken in response to the recommendations/concerns in three previous Technical Safety Appraisals (TSAs) of RFP Bldg. 707 conducted in July 1986, Bldgs. 771/774 conducted in October/November 1986, and Bldgs. 776/777 conducted in January/February 1988. Results of this appraisal are given in Section IV for each of 14 technical safety areas at RFP. These results include a discussion, conclusions and any new safety concerns for each technical safety area. Appendix A contains a description of the system for categorizing concerns, and the concerns are tabulated in Appendix B. Appendix C reports on the evaluation of the contractor's actions and the current status of each of the 230 recommendations and concerns contained in the three previous TSA reports.

This report presents the preliminary findings of the Environmental Survey of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Rocky Flats Plant (RFP), conducted August 11 through 22, 1986. The Survey is being conducted by an multidisciplinary team of environmental specialists, led and managed by the Office of Environment, Safety and Health's Office of Environmental Audit. Individual team members are outside experts supplied by a private contractor. The objective of the Survey is to identify environmental problems and areas of environmental risk associated with the RFP. The Survey covers all environmental media and all areas of environmental regulations. It is being performed in accordance with the DOE Environmental Survey Manual. The on-site phase of the Survey involves the review of existing site environmental data observations of the operations carried on at RFP, and interviews with site personnel. The Survey team developed a Sampling and Analysis Plan to assist in further assessing certain environmental problems identified during its on-site activates. The Sampling and Analysis Plan is being executed by DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. When completed, the results will be incorporated into the RFP Environmental Survey Interim Report. The Interim Report will reflect the final determinations of the RFP Survey. 75 refs., 24 figs., 33 tabs.

The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site has initiated a major work process improvement campaign using the tools of formalized benchmarking and streamlining. This paper provides insights into some of the process improvement activities performed at Rocky Flats from November 1995 through December 1996. It reviews the background, motivation, methodology, results, and lessons learned from this ongoing effort. The paper also presents important gains realized through process analysis and improvement including significant cost savings, productivity improvements, and an enhanced understanding of site work processes.

Second Quarter Calendar Year 2013 October 2013 LMS/RFS/S10694 This page intentionally left blank LMS/RFS/S10694 Rocky Flats, Colorado, Site Quarterly Report of Site Surveillance and Maintenance Activities Second Quarter Calendar Year 2013 October 2013 This page intentionally left blank U.S. Department of Energy Rocky Flats Site Quarterly Report of Site Surveillance and Maintenance Activities-2nd Quarter CY 2013 October 2013 Doc. No. S10694 Page i Contents Abbreviations

In a mortality study of white males who had worked at the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant between 1952 and 1979, an increased number of deaths from benign and unspecified intracranial neoplasms was found. A case-control study nested within this cohort investigated the hypothesis that an association existed between brain tumor death and exposure to either internally deposited plutonium or external ionizing radiation. There was no statistically significant association found between estimated radiation exposure from internally deposited plutonium and the development of brain tumors. Exposure by job or work area showed no significant difference between the cohort and the control groups. An update of the study found elevated risk estimates for (1) all lymphopoietic neoplasms, and (2) all causes of death in employees with body burdens greater than or equal to two nanocuries of plutonium. There was an excess of brain tumors for the entire cohort. Similar cohort studies conducted on worker populations from other plutonium handling facilities have not yet shown any elevated risks for brain tumors. Historically, the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant used large quantities of chemicals in their production operations. The use of solvents, particularly carbon tetrachloride, was unique to Rocky Flats. No investigation of the possible confounding effects of chemical exposures was done in the initial studies. The objectives of the present study are to (1) investigate the history of chemical use at the Rocky Flats facility; (2) locate and analyze chemical monitoring information in order to assess employee exposure to the chemicals that were used in the highest volume; and (3) determine the feasibility of establishing a chemical exposure assessment model that could be used in future epidemiology studies.

We report Keck/HIRES and Hubble Space Telescope/COS spectroscopic studies of extrasolar rocky planetesimals accreted onto two hydrogen atmosphere white dwarfs, G29-38 and GD 133. In G29-38, eight elements are detected, including C, O, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Fe while in GD 133, O, Si, Ca, and marginally Mg are seen. These two extrasolar planetesimals show a pattern of refractory enhancement and volatile depletion. For G29-38, the observed composition can be best interpreted as a blend of a chondritic object with some refractory-rich material, a result from post-nebular processing. Water is very depleted in the parent body accreted onto G29-38, based on the derived oxygen abundance. The inferred total mass accretion rate in GD 133 is the lowest of all known dusty white dwarfs, possibly due to non-steady state accretion. We continue to find that a variety of extrasolar planetesimals all resemble to zeroth order the elemental composition of bulk Earth.

A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis is being conducted for the DOE Rocky Flats Plant, Jefferson County, Colorado. This is part of the overall review of the seismic exposure to facilities being conducted by DOE. The study has four major elements. (1) The historical seismicity in Colorado is being reviewed and synthesized to estimate historical rates of earthquake activity in the region of the site. (2) The geologic and tectonic evidence in Colorado and along the Front Range is being reviewed to determine appropriate seismic zones, potentially active faults, and constraints on fault slip rates. (3) Earthquake ground motion equations are being derived based on seismological knowledge of the earth`s crust. Site specific soil amplification factors are also being developed using on-site shear wave velocity measurements. (4) The probability of exceedence of various seismic ground motion levels is being calculated based on the inputs developed on tectonic sources, faults, ground motion, and soil amplification. Deterministic ground motion estimates are also being made. This study is a state-of-the-art analysis of seismic hazard. It incorporates uncertainties in the major aspects governing seismic hazard, and has a documented basis founded on solid data interpretations for the ranges of inputs used. The results will be a valid basis on which to evaluate plant structures, equipment, and components for seismic effects.

The Critical Mass Laboratory (CML) at Rocky Flats northwest of Denver, Colorado, was built in 1964 and commissioned to conduct nuclear experiments on January 28, 1965. It was built to attain more accurate and precise experimental data to ensure nuclear criticality safety at the plant than were previously possible. Prior to its construction, safety data were obtained from long extrapolations of subcritical data (called in situ experiments), calculated parameters from reactor engineering 'models', and a few other imprecise methods. About 1700 critical and critical-approach experiments involving several chemical forms of enriched uranium and plutonium were performed between then and 1988. These experiments included single units and arrays of fissile materials, reflected and 'bare' systems, and configurations with various degrees of moderation, as well as some containing strong neutron absorbers. In 1989, a raid by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) caused the plant as a whole to focus on 'resumption' instead of further criticality safety experiments. Though either not recognized or not admitted for a few years, that FBI raid did sound the death knell for the CML. The plant's optimistic goal of resumption evolved to one of deactivation, decommissioning, and plantwide demolition during the 1990s. The once-proud CML facility was finally demolished in April of 2002.

The horizontal and depth distribution of plutonium was measured in soil east of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (formerly the Rocky Flats Plant) near Denver, Colorado, during 1992-1994. The study area was centered on the eastern plume of plutonium contamination and included transacts extending from 0.2 km east of the primary origin of the contamination (the 903 Pad) to distances of up to 19 km northeast, east, southeast and south-southeast of the 903 Pad. Soil was collected in 3 cm layers down to 21 cm at exponentially increasing distances along the four transacts. Plutonium concentrations decreased rapidly with depth, distance from the 903 Pad, and angle from due east. Depth distributions were independent of distance and angle from the 903 Pad, and our profile model can be used to adjust to a common basis, historical measurements made from sampling to different depths. Based on a total of {approximately}1,400 independent measurements, mathematical functions were developed to describe the distance, directional, and depth relationships. These equations, combined with soil density and rock measurements, provided a new method to estimate the plutonium concentration or total deposition per unit area anywhere within the study area. Total deposition per unit area measurements at 50 sites provided an independent test of the model`s predictive accuracy. Sampling coefficients of variation based on replicate samples at the main sampling locations averaged 33%, but ranged from 12 to 98%. The analytical measurement coefficient of variation averaged 8%. Mean 0-3 cm soil concentrations of {sup 239}Pu among 10 Front Range {open_quotes}background{close_quotes} and 11 community locations near Rocky Flats were 2.1 and 2.3 Bq kg{sup -1}, respectively. 45 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.

Eleven papers are included in these proceedings. Topics include management of coal mining operations, improving mine health and safety, new technologies for longwall mining, coal haulage, coal drying, a demonstration of the LFC process, and state of the art in mining automation. All eleven papers have been processed for inclusion on the data base.

The purpose of this study includes extensive characterization of the most promising geologic CO{sub 2} storage formations on the Colorado Plateau, including estimates of maximum possible storage capacity. The primary targets of characterization and capacity analysis include the Cretaceous Dakota Formation, the Jurassic Entrada Formation and the Permian Weber Formation and their equivalents in the Colorado Plateau region. The total CO{sub 2} capacity estimates for the deep saline formations of the Colorado Plateau region range between 9.8 metric GT and 143 metric GT, depending on assumed storage efficiency, formations included, and other factors.

The objectives of the Off-Post interim response action are to: (1) Continue ground water monitoring and provide an alternative drinking water supply (2) Mitigate migration of contaminants in alluvial ground water (3) Treat contaminated alluvial ground water. This final decision document provides summaries of: (1) Alternatives considered (2) Significant events leading to the initiation of the IRA (3) The IRA Project (4) The applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements, standards, criteria, and limitations (ARAR`s) associated with the project. The selected IRA program will consists of: (1) Continued monitoring (2) Ground water extraction and recharge, but no physical barrier.

In the western United States, exotic brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis frequently have a deleterious effect on native salmonids, and biologists often attempt to remove brook trout from streams by means of electrofishing. Although the success of such projects typically is low, few studies have assessed the underlying mechanisms of failure, especially in terms of compensatory responses. A multiagency watershed advisory group (WAG) conducted a 3-year removal project to reduce brook trout and enhance native salmonids in 7.8 km of a southwestern Idaho stream. We evaluated the costs and success of their project in suppressing brook trout and looked for brook trout compensatory responses, such as decreased natural mortality, increased growth, increased fecundity at length, and earlier maturation. The total number of brook trout removed was 1,401 in 1998, 1,241 in 1999, and 890 in 2000; removal constituted an estimated 88% of the total number of brook trout in the stream in 1999 and 79% in 2000. Although abundance of age-1 and older brook trout declined slightly during and after the removals, abundance of age-0 brook trout increased 789% in the entire stream 2 years after the removals ceased. Total annual survival rate for age-2 and older brook trout did not decrease during the removals, and the removals failed to produce an increase in the abundance of native redband trout Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri. Lack of a meaningful decline and unchanged total mortality for older brook trout during the removals suggest that a compensatory response occurred in the brook trout population via reduced natural mortality, which offset the removal of large numbers of brook trout. Although we applaud WAG personnel for their goal of enhancing native salmonids by suppressing brook trout via electrofishing removal, we conclude that their efforts were unsuccessful and suggest that similar future projects elsewhere over such large stream lengths would be costly, quixotic enterprises.

Jemez Mountains Headwaters Jemez Mountains Headwaters Rainfall in the Jemez Mountains flows to the Valles Caldera and eastward onto Laboratory lands. August 1, 2013 Rafts full of people and equipment on the banks of the Rio Grande near Otowi Bridge Water sampling trip embarks downstream from Otowi Bridge onto the Rio Grande. RELATED IMAGES http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3782/9573883786_60ba7b82e3_t.jpg Enlarge

The Rocky Flats Standards Laboratory has undertaken a project to improve calibration of air velocity meters by reducing the uncertainty of the Velocity Meter Calibration System. The project was accomplished by analyzing the governing equation in order to determine which areas within the system contributed most to the overall system uncertainty. Then, based upon this new analysis, new components were selected to replace the components identified in the analysis. Finally, the system was re-evaluated to determine the new systematic uncertainty for the system.

When President Clinton spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in September 1993, he offered to place US excess defense nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, before the next Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Extension Conference. This set in motion a flurry of activities at three DOE facilities, including Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (Site). With general guidance from DOE Headquarters, the facility selected a suitable storage area, identified appropriate materials, and acquired the necessary instrumentation to implement full-scale IAEA safeguards on excess plutonium oxide.

This report provides information to the public about the impact of the Rocky Flats Plant on the environment and public health. The report contains a compliance summary, a description of environmental monitoring programs, and radiation dose estimates for the surrounding population for the period January 1 through December 31, 1990. An environmental surveillance program has been ongoing at the Rocky Flats Plant since the 1950s. Early programs focused on radiological impacts to the environment. The current program examines potential impacts to air, surface water, groundwater, and soils from radiological and nonradiological sources. Environmental operations at Rocky Flats Plant are under the jurisdiction of several local, state, and federal agencies, most notably the Colorado Department of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Energy. A variety of reports are prepared at different intervals for these and other agencies in addition to the annual environmental report.

This is a report on the 1989 independent Criticality Safety Assessment of the Rocky Flats Plant, primarily in response to public concerns that nuclear criticality accidents involving plutonium may have occurred at this nuclear weapon component fabrication and processing plant. The report evaluates environmental issues, fissile material storage practices, ventilation system problem areas, and criticality safety practices. While no evidence of a criticality accident was found, several recommendations are made for criticality safety improvements. 9 tabs.

The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) has initiated a major work process improvement campaign using the tools of formalized benchmarking and streamlining. This paper provides insights into some of the process improvement activities performed at Rocky Flats from November 1995 through December 1996. It reviews the background, motivation, methodology, results, and lessons learned from this ongoing effort. The paper also presents important gains realized through process analysis and improvement including significant cost savings, productivity improvements, and an enhanced understanding of site work processes.

Buildings 776/777 at the Rocky Flats Plant are major components of the production complex at the plant site. They have been in operation since 1957. The operations taking place in the buildings are nuclear weapons production support, processing of weapons assemblies returned from Pantex, waste processing, research and development in support of production, special projects, and those generated by support groups, such as maintenance. The appraisal team identified nine deficiencies that it believed required prompt attention. DOE management for EH, the program office (Defense Programs), and the field office analyzed the information provided by the appraisal team and instituted compensatory measures for closer monitoring of contractor activities by knowledgeable DOE staff and staff from other sites. Concurrently, the contractor was requested to address both short-term and long-term remedial measures to correct the identified issues as well as the underlying problems. The contractor has provided his action plan, which is included. This plan was under evaluation by EH and the DOE program office at the time this report was prepared. In addressing the major areas of concern identified above, a well as the specific deficiencies identified by the appraisal team, the contractor and the field office are cautioned to search for the root causes for the problems and to direct corrective actions to those root causes rather than solely to the symptoms to assure the sustainability of the improvements being made. The results of prior TSAs led DOE to conclude that previous corrective actions were not sufficient in that a large number of the individual findings are recurrent. Pending completion of remedial actions over the next few months, enhanced DOE oversight of the contractor is warranted.

On July 19, 1996 the US Department of Energy (DOE), State of Colorado (CDPHE), and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entered into an agreement called the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement (RFCA) for the cleanup and closure of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS or Rocky Flats). Major elements of the agreement include: an Integrated Site-Wide Baseline; up to twelve significant enforceable milestones per year; agreed upon soil and water action levels and standards for cleanup; open space as the likely foreseeable land use; the plutonium and TRU waste removed by 2015; streamlined regulatory process; agreement with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) to coordinate activities; and a risk reduction focus. Successful implementation of RFCA requires a substantial effort by the parties to change their way of thinking about RFETS and meet the deliverables and commitments. Substantial progress toward Site closure through the implementation of RFCA has been accomplished in the short time since the signing, yet much remains to be done. Much can be learned from the Rocky Flats experience by other facilities in similar situations.

A new skid-mounted tomographic gamma scanner (TGS) was designed to assist in the decommissioning of Rocky Flats Building 37 1, This instrument was used to assay pyrochemical salts as a prerequisite for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The following paper discusses measurement challenges and results from the first year of operation of the instrument.

The prime contractor for the Rocky Flats Closure Project (RFCP), Kaiser-Hill, in concert with the Department of Energy--Rocky Flats Field Office (DOE-RFFO) has applied a fully integrated, life-cycle, critical path schedule and work planning system to manage the work that is required to close the Site. The closure of the Site is complex, in that it houses over 700 facilities, 19,600 kilograms of Special Nuclear Material (Plutonium and Uranium), and over 160,000 cubic meters of Transuranic, Low Level, and Hazardous Waste. The deactivation, decommissioning, decontaminating, and demolition of this large number of facilities, while at the same time accommodating difficult on-going activities, significantly increases the sophistication required in the planning process. The Rocky Flats team has overcome these difficulties by establishing a money oriented critical path process, to provide a least-cost avenue to supporting on-going activities and a line-of-balance process for production oriented activities. These processes, when integrated with a typical activity-based project planning system, guide the way to the shortest and most cost-effective course for the closure of the Rocky Flats Site.

The Rocky Rats Plant Site Environmental Report provides summary information on the plant`s environmental monitoring programs and the results recorded during 1992. The report contains a compliance summary, results of environmental monitoring and other related programs, a review of environmental remediation activities, information on external gamma radiation dose monitoring, and radiation dose estimates for the surrounding population.

Land stewardship is one of nine sustainability programs in the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Management System. Land stewardship includes maintaining and improving ecosystem health. At the Rocky Flats Site near Westminster, Colorado, land stewardship is an integral component of the Office of Legacy Management's post-closure monitoring and management at the site. Nearly 263 hectares (650 acres) were disturbed and re-vegetated during site cleanup and closure operations. Proactive management of revegetation areas is critical to the successful reestablishment of native grasslands, wetlands, and riparian communities. The undisturbed native plant communities that occur at the site also require active management to maintain the high-quality wetlands and other habitats that are home to numerous species of birds and other wildlife such as elk and deer, rare plant communities, and the federally listed threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse. Over the past several decades, an increase of Noxious weeds has impacted much of Colorado's Front Range. As a result, weed control is a key component of the land stewardship program at Rocky Flats. Thirty-three species of state-listed Noxious weeds are known to occur in the Central and Peripheral Operable Units at Rocky Flats, along with another five species that are considered invasive at the site. Early detection and rapid response to control new invasive species is crucial to the program. An integrated weed control/vegetation management approach is key to maintaining healthy, sustainable plant communities that are able to resist Noxious weed invasions. Weed mapping, field surveys, and field-staff training sessions (to learn how to identify new potential problem species) are conducted to help detect and prevent new weed problems. The integrated approach at Rocky Flats includes administrative and cultural techniques (prevention), mechanical controls, biological controls, and chemical controls. Several species of biocontrol

The ''Yucca Mountain Site Description'' summarizes, in a single document, the current state of knowledge and understanding of the natural system at Yucca Mountain. It describes the geology; geochemistry; past, present, and projected future climate; regional hydrologic system; and flow and transport within the unsaturated and saturated zones at the site. In addition, it discusses factors affecting radionuclide transport, the effect of thermal loading on the natural system, and tectonic hazards. The ''Yucca Mountain Site Description'' is broad in nature. It summarizes investigations carried out as part of the Yucca Mountain Project since 1988, but it also includes work done at the site in earlier years, as well as studies performed by others. The document has been prepared under the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management quality assurance program for the Yucca Mountain Project. Yucca Mountain is located in Nye County in southern Nevada. The site lies in the north-central part of the Basin and Range physiographic province, within the northernmost subprovince commonly referred to as the Great Basin. The basin and range physiography reflects the extensional tectonic regime that has affected the region during the middle and late Cenozoic Era. Yucca Mountain was initially selected for characterization, in part, because of its thick unsaturated zone, its arid to semiarid climate, and the existence of a rock type that would support excavation of stable openings. In 1987, the United States Congress directed that Yucca Mountain be the only site characterized to evaluate its suitability for development of a geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science and Technology Subsurface Contaminants Focus Area is supporting the investigation of reactive barrier technologies to mitigate the risks associated with mixed organic/radioactive waste at several DOE sites. Groundwater from a small contaminated plume at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) is being used to evaluate passive reactive material treatment. Permeable reactive barriers which intercept contaminants and destroy the VOC component while containing radionuclides are attractive for a number of reasons relating to public and regulatory acceptance. In situ treatment keeps contaminants away from the earth`s surface, there is no above-ground treatment equipment that could expose workers and the public and operational costs are expected to be lower than currently used technologies. This paper will present results from preliminary site characterization and in-field small-scale column testing of reactive materials at RFETS. Successful demonstration is expected to lead to full-scale implementation of the technology at several DOE sites, including Rocky Flats.

Groundwater movement through various pathways is the primary mechanism for the transport of radionuclides and trace elements in a water/rock interaction. About three dozen wells, installed in the Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) Solar Evaporation Ponds (SEP) area, are monitored quarterly to evaluate the extent of any lateral and downgradient migration of contaminants from the Solar Evaporation Ponds: 207-A; 207-B North, 207-B Center, and 207-B South; and 207-C. The Solar Ponds are the main source for the various contaminants: radionuclides (U-238, U-234, Pu-239, 240 and Am-241); anions; and trace metals to groundwaters. The U-238 concentrations in Rocky Flats groundwaters vary from <0.2 to 69 pCi/I (IpCi = 3 ug). However, the activity U-234/U-238 ratios are low and range mostly 1.2 to 2.7. The low activity ratios can be interpreted to suggest that the groundwaters are moving slow (

Yucca Mountain, Nevada is being evaluated as a potential site for a geologic repository for high level radioactive waste. As part of the site characterization activities at Yucca Mountain, a field-scale ponded infiltration experiment was done to help characterize the hydraulic and infiltration properties of a layered dessert alluvium deposit. Calcium carbonate accumulation and cementation, heterogeneous layered profiles, high evapotranspiration, low precipitation, and rocky soil make the surface difficult to characterize.The effects of the strong morphological horizonation on the infiltration processes, the suitability of measured hydraulic properties, and the usefulness of ponded infiltration experiments in site characterization work were of interest. One-dimensional and two-dimensional radial flow numerical models were used to help interpret the results of the ponding experiment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the results of a ponded infiltration experiment done around borehole UE25 UZN {number_sign}85 (N85) at Yucca Mountain, NV. The effects of morphological horizons on the infiltration processes, lateral flow, and measured soil hydaulic properties were studied. The evaluation was done by numerically modeling the results of a field ponded infiltration experiment. A comparison the experimental results and the modeled results was used to qualitatively indicate the degree to which infiltration processes and the hydaulic properties are understood. Results of the field characterization, soil characterization, borehole geophysics, and the ponding experiment are presented in a companion paper.

When the Rocky Flats closure project was declared complete in October 2005, it was the largest environmental cleanup to date. Even more impressive, it was ahead of schedule and well under budget. Several factors combined to produce this success including a performance-based contract with financial incentives, development and application of innovative technologies, and a regulator-backed accelerated approach to the cleanup process. The factor in this success in which the State of Colorado had the largest role was in developing and enforcing the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement. In compliance with this agreement, cleanup was accomplished by means of multiple interim actions that led to a comprehensive final decision at the end. A key element that allowed the accelerated cleanup was constant consultation among DOE, its contractor, and the regulators plus collaboration with stakeholders. (authors)

The purpose of this Facility Overview is to support the Rocky Flats Local Impacts Initiative`s Request for Interest, to solicit interest from commercial corporations for utilizing buildings 865 and 883, and the equipment contained within each building, for a commercial venture. In the following sections, this document describes the Rocky Flats Site, the buildings available for lease, the equipment within these buildings, the site services available to a tenant, the human resources available to support operations in buildings 865 and 883, and the environmental condition of the buildings and property. In addition, a brief description is provided of the work performed to date to explore the potential products that might be manufactured in Buildings 865 and 883, and the markets for these products.

The Rocky Flats Plant is pursuing polymer solidification as a viable treatment option for several mixed waste streams that are subject to land disposal restrictions within the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act provisions. Tests completed to date using both surrogate and actual wastes indicate that polyethylene microencapsulation is a viable treatment option for several mixed wastes at the Rocky Flats Plant, including nitrate salts, sludges, and secondary wastes such as ash. Treatability studies conducted on actual salt waste demonstrated that the process is capable of producing waste forms that comply with all applicable regulatory criteria, including the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure. Tests have also been conducted to evaluate the feasibility of macroencapsulating certain debris wastes in polymers. Several methods and plastics have been tested for macroencapsulation, including post-consumer recycle and regrind polyethylene.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA), DOE/EA-1039, for radioactive solution removal and processing at Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, Golden, Colorado. The proposal for solution removal and processing is in response to independent safety assessments and an agreement with the State of Colorado to remove mixed residues at Rocky Flats and reduce the risk of future accidents. Monthly public meetings were held during the scoping and preparation of the EA. The scope of the EA included evaluations of alternative methods and locations of solution processing. A comment period from February 20, 1995 through March 21, 1995 was provided to the public and the State of Colorado to offer written comment on the EA. Comments were received from the State of Colorado and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A response to the agency comments is included in the Final EA.

The primary purpose of this guide is to help the DOE locate and make available information relating to the 1957 Rocky Flats fire. The records are arranged into six categories: administrative and general; facilities and equipment; production and materials handling; waste management; workplace and environmental monitoring; and employee occupational exposure and health. A brief explanation of each category follows. The administrative and general section pertains to the administration of individual contractor organizations and DOE divisions at Rocky Flats. It also contains records which encompass several different subject areas and therefore can not be placed in a single category. The facilities and equipment category relates to the routine construction and maintenance of plant buildings as well as the purchase and installation of equipment. The production and materials handling records relate primarily to the inventory and production of nuclear materials and weapons components. The waste management records series found under this heading relate to the storage, handling, treatment, and disposal of radioactive, chemical or mixed materials produced or used at Rocky Flats. The records consist mostly of waste sampling and shipment records. The workplace and environmental monitoring records series found in this section pertain to monitoring of the workplace. The section also includes records that document efforts to monitor the environment outside of buildings, either onsite or offsite. Records in this category consist of sampling data and environmental impact reports. The employee occupational exposure and health section pertains to documentation relating to the health and occupational exposures of employees and visitors at Rocky Flats. Records series consist generally of dosimeter data, radiation exposure records, and medical records. Many of the records contain personal data pertaining to individual employees and may therefore be Privacy Act systems and records.

Inspection revealed that immediate management attention is needed to properly control, store, and dispose of excess personal property at Rocky Flats. Current system of operation does not allow for efficient, timely, cost effective management; current storage and disposal practices are not consistent with contract requirements or DOE policies and procedures. Other deficiencies are pointed out. Results of inspection are divided into 4 sections: contract changeover issues, moratorium issues, additional excess property issues, and award fee observations. Recommendations are outlined.

The Rocky Flats Plant Site Environmental Report provides summary information on the plant`s environmental monitoring programs and the results recorded during 1993. The report contains a compliance summary, results of environmental monitoring and other related programs, a review of environmental remediation activities, information on external gamma radiation dose monitoring, and radiation dose estimates for the surrounding population. This section provides an overview of these topics and summarizes more comprehensive discussions found in the main text of this annual report.

This paper presents a discussion of the demolition of the Building 788 cluster at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) in Golden, Colorado. The Building 788 Cluster was a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permitted storage facilities and ancillary structures. Topics covered include the methods employed for Project Planning, Regulatory Compliance, Waste Management, Hazard Identification, Radiological Controls, Risk Management, Field Implementation, and Cost Schedule control, and Lessons Learned and Project Closeout.

The Snake River Plain (SRP), Idaho, hosts potential geothermal resources due to elevated groundwater temperatures associated with the thermal anomaly Yellowstone-Snake River hotspot. Project HOTSPOT has coordinated international institutions and organizations to understand subsurface stratigraphy and assess geothermal potential. Over 5.9km of core were drilled from three boreholes within the SRP in an attempt to acquire continuous core documenting the volcanic and sedimentary record of the hotspot: (1) Kimama, (2) Kimberly, and (3) Mountain Home. The Mountain Home drill hole is located along the western plain and documents older basalts overlain by sediment. Data submitted by project collaborator Doug Schmitt, University of Alberta

The Snake River Plain (SRP), Idaho, hosts potential geothermal resources due to elevated groundwater temperatures associated with the thermal anomaly Yellowstone-Snake River hotspot. Project HOTSPOT has coordinated international institutions and organizations to understand subsurface stratigraphy and assess geothermal potential. Over 5.9km of core were drilled from three boreholes within the SRP in an attempt to acquire continuous core documenting the volcanic and sedimentary record of the hotspot: (1) Kimama, (2) Kimberly, and (3) Mountain Home. The Mountain Home drill hole is located along the western plain and documents older basalts overlain by sediment. Data submitted by project collaborator Doug Schmitt, University of Alberta

Management Institute | Department of Energy Rocky Flats Cleanup Site Named 2006 Project of the Year By Project Management Institute DOE's Rocky Flats Cleanup Site Named 2006 Project of the Year By Project Management Institute October 23, 2006 - 9:17am Addthis WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that the Project Management Institute (PMI) has awarded its 2006 Project of the Year to DOE's Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. The award was presented to DOE

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Rocky Flats Site (Rocky Flats), located near Denver, Colorado, was listed on the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989. Subsequent cleanup and closure activities were completed in October 2005 and the final remedy was selected in September 2006. The remedy is 'no further action' for the generally un-impacted Peripheral Operable Unit (OU), formerly known as the Buffer Zone, and institutional and physical controls with continued monitoring for the Central OU, formerly the industrialized area. The Peripheral OU has been deleted from the NPL and jurisdiction over the majority of land in that OU (3,953 acres) was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on July 12, 2007, to establish the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The remaining approximately 929 acres in the Peripheral OU were retained by DOE's Office of Legacy Management where outstanding mineral leases and mining operations exist. As mineral rights are purchased or mining operations and mineral leases are completed and fully reclaimed, jurisdiction of portions of the 929 acres will also be transferred to USFWS for inclusion into the refuge. During the almost 2 years since cleanup and closure work was completed at Rocky Flats, DOE and USFWS have worked the specific legal parameters, timing, and constraints of the 3,953-acre transfer. Many lessons have been learned, based on these early experiences. (authors)

Rockwell International requested an analysis of the existing plant site water supply distribution system at Rocky Flats, Colorado, to determine its adequacy. On September 26--29, 1988, Hughes Associates, Inc., Fire Protection Engineers, accompanied by Rocky Flats Fire Department engineers and suppression personnel, conducted water flow tests at the Rocky Flats plant site. Thirty-seven flows from various points throughout the plant site were taken on the existing domestic supply/fire main installation to assure comprehensive and thorough representation of the Rocky Flats water distribution system capability. The analysis was completed in four phases which are described, together with a summary of general conclusions and recommendations.

This article describes the revegetation of Blue Mountain in Palmertown, Pennsylvania, which was biologically destroyed by a zinc smelting operation. After application of industrial fly ash and a municipal sludge mixture, grasses and microbes and some tree seedlings are present. The article outlines in detail the processes of testing and experimentation with the soils and the plants.

This site characterization plan (SCP) has been developed for the candidate repository site at Yucca Mountain in the State of Nevada. The SCP includes a description of the Yucca Mountain site (Chapters 1-5), a conceptual design for the repository (Chapter 6), a description of the packaging to be used for the waste to be emplaced in the repository (Chapter 7), and a description of the planned site characterization activities (Chapter 8). The schedules and milestones presented in Section 8.3 and 8.5 of the SCP were developed to be consistent with the June 1988 draft Amendment to the DOE`s Mission Plan for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. The five month delay in the scheduled start of exploratory shaft construction that was announced recently is not reflected in these schedules. 88 figs., 42 tabs.

Overmature Mississippian hydrocarbon source rocks in the southern Diamond Mountains have been interpreted to be a klippe overlying less mature source rocks and represented as an analogy to similar conditions near Yucca Mountain (Chamberlain, 1991). Geologic evidence indicates an alternative interpretation. Paleogeologic mapping indicates the presence of a thrust fault, referred to here as the Moritz Nager Thrust Fault, with Devonian rocks emplaced over Permian to Mississippian strata folded into an upright to overturned syncline, and that the overmature rocks of the Diamond Mountains are in the footwall of this thrust. The upper plate has been eroded from most of the Diamond Mountains but remnants are present at the head of Moritz Nager Canyon and at Sentinel Mountain. Devonian rocks of the upper plate comprised the earliest landslide megabreccia. Later, megabreccias of Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks of the overturned syncline of the lower plate were deposited. By this interpretation the maturity of lower-plate source rocks in the southern Diamond Mountains, which have been increased by tectonic burial, is not indicative of conditions in Diamond Valley, adjacent to the west, where upper-plate source rocks might be present in generating conditions. The interpretation that overmature source rocks of the Diamond Mountains are in a lower plate rather than in a klippe means that this area is an inappropriate model for the Eleana Range near Yucca Mountain.

The US Department of Energy is currently considering the thick sequences of unsaturated, fractured tuff at Yucca Mountain, on the southwestern boundary of the Nevada Test Site, as a possible candidate host rock for a nuclear-waste repository. Yucca Mountain is in one of the most arid areas in the United States. The site is within the south-central part of the Great Basin section of the Basin and Range physiographic province and is located near a number of silicic calderas of Tertiary age. Although localized zones of seismic activity are common throughout the province, and faults are present at Yucca Mountain, the site itself is basically aseismic. No data are available on the composition of ground water in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain. It has been suggested that the composition is bounded by the compositions of water from wells USW-H3, UE25p-1, J-13, and snow or rain. There are relatively few data available from Yucca Mountain on the moisture content and saturation, hydraulic conductivity, and characteristic curves of the unsaturated zone. The available literature on thermomechanical properties of tuff does not always distinguish between data from the saturated zone and data from the unsaturated zone. Geochemical, hydrologic, and thermomechanical data available on the unsaturated tuffs of Yucca Mountain are tabulated in this report. Where the data are very sparse, they have been supplemented by data from the saturated zone or from areas other than Yucca Mountain. 316 refs., 58 figs., 37 tabs.

Recent program requirements of the US Department of Energy/NNSA have led to a need for a criticality accident alarm system to be installed at a newly activated facility. The Criticality Safety Group of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was able to recover and store for possible future use approximately 200 neutron criticality detectors and 20 master alarm panels from the former Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado when the plant was closed. The Criticality Safety Group participated in a facility analysis and evaluation, the engineering design and review process, as well as the refurbishment, testing, and recalibration of the Rocky Flats criticality alarm system equipment to be used in the new facility. In order to demonstrate the functionality and survivability of the neutron detectors to the effects of an actual criticality accident, neutron detector testing was performed at the French CEA Valduc SILENE reactor from October 7 to October 19, 2010. The neutron detectors were exposed to three criticality events or pulses generated by the SILENE reactor. The first excursion was performed with a bare or unshielded reactor, and the second excursion was made with a lead shielded/reflected reactor, and the third excursion with a polyethylene reflected core. These tests of the Rocky Flats neutron detectors were performed as a part of the 2010 Criticality Accident Alarm System Benchmark Measurements at the SILENE Reactor. The principal investigators for this series of experiments were Thomas M. Miller and John C. Wagner of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with Nicolas Authier and Nathalie Baclet of CEA Valduc. Several other organizations were also represented, including the Y-12 National Security Complex, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, CEA Saclay, and Babcock International Group.

Closure of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) has been completed. The future land use of the site is designated as a National Wildlife Refuge. A joint effort between Kaiser-Hill, Department of Energy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, State of Colorado, and other stakeholders was initiated to provide direction for developing the final land configuration. Through early identification of issues and developing mutually agreeable solutions, the final land configuration of the site was successfully completed. (authors)

the First Batch of Rocky Flats Water Samples Submitted to LBNL John N. Christensen Report date 9/16/13 Thirteen samples were submitted by SM Stoller to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for uranium isotopic and concentration analysis- 12 surface water samples from two sites (WALPOC and GS10) covering the period Sept. 2011 to April 2013, and one groundwater sample taken on 5/14/12 from well 79102 (Table 1). Uranium isotopic compositions of the samples were determined at LBNL by MC- ICPMS

The authors recently completed several tests for EG&G - Rocky Flats, Inc. (RFP) to qualify welding procedures for the PRESS program. The welds that were tested were the Monel 400 to vanadium friction weld used in the Sail-A and the vanadium electron beam welds from the Mast Inner Subassembly. Tests were performed to determine the structural properties of the parts under conditions similar to those encountered in a weapons handling and storage environment. These tests included impact, tensile and pressure loading. Metallographic analysis was done where appropriate to document weld quality. All results were satisfactory for PRESS program purposes.

A site beryllium characterization project was completed at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) in 1997. Information from historical reviews, previous sampling surveys, and a new sampling survey were used to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the locations and levels of beryllium contamination in 35 buildings. A feature of the sampling strategy was to test if process knowledge was a good predictor of where beryllium contamination could be found. Results revealed that this technique was effective at identifying where surface contamination levels might exceed the RFETS smear control level but that it was not effective in identifying where low concentrations of beryllium might be found.

Rocky Road to Nuclear Zero Professor R. Rajaraman Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi India November 18, 2015 4:00 p.m. - Wilson Hall, One West The call for complete nuclear disarmament is as old as the nuclear era itself. But as the Cold War warmed up and nuclear arsenals grew, these weapons seemed to be here to stay. Neither a string of pious UN resolutions nor treaties like NPT and CTBT seemed to lead to complete disarmament. However, hopes for a world without nuclear weapons enjoyed a

Project is on Track | Department of Energy Independent Assessments Find the Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Project is on Track Two Independent Assessments Find the Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Project is on Track December 13, 2007 - 4:44pm Addthis WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) today released two independent assessments addressing areas critical to the overall success of the Yucca

Ion exchange resins have been used to purify nitric acid solutions of plutonium at Rocky Flats since the 1950s. Spent ion exchange resins were retained for eventual recovery of residual plutonium, typically by incineration followed by the aqueous extraction of plutonium from the resultant ash. The elimination of incineration as a recovery process in the late 1980s and the absence of a suitable alternative process for plutonium recovery from resins led to a situation where spent ion exchange resins were simply placed into temporary storage. This report describes the method that Rocky Flats is currently using to stabilize residue ion exchange resins. The objective of the resin stabilization program is: (1) to ensure their safety during interim storage at the site, and (2) to prepare them for ultimate shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. Included in the discussion is a description of the safety concerns associated with ion exchange resins, alternatives considered for their stabilization, the selection of the preferred treatment method, the means of implementing the preferred option, and the progress to date.

This report describes the review and evaluation of the geological, geotechnical and geophysical data supporting the design basis analysis for the Rocky Flats Environmental Test Site (RFETS) Building 371. The primary purpose of the geologic and geotechnical reviews and assessments described herein are to assess the adequacy of the crustal and near surface rock and soil model used in the seismic analysis of Building 371. This review was requested by the RFETS Seismic Evaluation Program. The purpose was to determine the adequacy of data to support the design basis for Building 371, with respect to seismic loading. The objectives required to meet this goal were to: (1) review techniques used to gather data (2) review analysis and interpretations of the data; and (3) make recommendations to gather additional data if required. Where there were questions or inadequacies in data or interpretation, recommendations were made for new data that will support the design basis analysis and operation of Building 371. In addition, recommendations are provided for a geologic and geophysical assessment for a new facility at the Rocky Flats Site.

Federal Highway Administration and Arizona Department of Transportation, with Western Area Power Administration as a cooperating agency, prepared an EIS that analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the proposed South Mountain Freeway (Loop 202) project in the Greater Metropolitan Phoenix Area.

Gamma spectroscopy measurements were used to estimate concentrations of {sup 241}Am and {sup 137}Cs in soil profiles to depths of 21 cm at on-site and off-site locations around the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site and at regional background locations east of the Front Range between Colorado`s borders with New Mexico and Wyoming. Concentrations of these radionuclides were compared with concentrations of {sup 239,240}Pu in the same samples. Concentrations of {sup 241}Am in soil from depths of 0 to 3 cm decreased in an easterly direction from more than 5.3 kBq kg{sup {minus}1} 5 to 7 km away at a rate that was nearly proportional to the inverse square of distance. Deposits of {sup 137}Cs were ubiquitous, averaging 0.12 kBq kg{sup {minus}1} in soil from depths of 0 to 3 cm, but were unevenly distributed around Rocky Flats and the regional background locations. Deviations from the uniform exponential rate at which soil concentrations of {sup 137}Cs typically decreased with depth, {minus}0.25 cm{sup {minus}1} at undisturbed sites, enabled the authors to determine that about 10% of their sampling sites had been disturbed by erosion, tillage, or other factors. The mean rate at which {sup 239,240}Pu decreased with depth was about the same, {minus}0.23 cm{sup {minus}1}, throughout the study area. Soil concentrations of {sup 241}Am decreased with depth at a similar mean rate of {minus}0.22 cm{sup {minus}1} at locations close to the 903 pad where measurements were robust. Ratios between {sup 241}Am or {sup 239,240}Pu and {sup 137}Cs proved more useful for delineating the extent and pattern of contamination from Rocky Flats than did activity concentrations in soil.

The Franklin Mountains are a west tilted fault block mountain range which extends northwards from the city of El Paso, Texas. Geologic mapping in the southern portion of the Franklin Mountains has revealed many previously unrecognized structural complexities. Three large high-angle faults define the boundaries of map. Twenty lithologic units are present in the field area, including the southernmost Precambrian meta-sedimentary rocks in the Franklin Mountains (Lanoria Quartzite and Thunderbird group conglomerates). The area is dominated by Precambrian igneous rocks and lower Paleozoic carbonates, but Cenozoic ( ) intrusions are also recognized. Thin sections and rock slabs were used to describe and identify many of the lithologic units. The Franklin Mountains are often referred to as a simple fault block mountain range related to the Rio Grande Rift. Three critical regions within the study area show that these mountains contain structural complexities. In critical area one, Precambrian granites and rhyolites are structurally juxtaposed, and several faults bisecting the area affect the Precambrian/Paleozoic fault contact. Critical area two contains multiple NNW-trending faults, three sills and a possible landslide. This area also shows depositional features related to an island of Precambrian rock exposed during deposition of the lower Paleozoic rocks. Critical area three contains numerous small faults which generally trend NNE. They appear to be splays off of one of the major faults bounding the area. Cenozoic kaolinite sills and mafic intrusion have filled many of the fault zones.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has recently finalized a closure plan (originally called the Ten Year Plan) for closure and environmental cleanup of previous nuclear weapons facilities. The DOE Rocky Flats Field Office has established priorities for risk reduction work to Support closure activities, as well as addressing those hazards associated with storage and management of radioactive materials and hazardous chemicals. To provide information for future National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other regulatory assessments of specific risk reduction projects identified in the Closure Plan, a risk assessment of normal operations and potential accidents was recently prepared to provide an updated baseline of the cumulative impacts to the worker, public and environment due to the Site`s operations, activities, and environmental conditions in light of the Site`s change in mission, and of future closure projects. This paper summarizes the risk assessment approach, results, and conclusions.

The objective of the Live-Fire Range Risk Analysis Report (RAR) is to provide an authorization basis for operation as required by DOE 5480.16. The existing Live-Fire Range does not have a safety analysis-related authorization basis. EG&G Rocky Flats, Inc. has worked with DOE and its representatives to develop a format and content description for development of an RAR for the Live-Fire Range. Development of the RAR is closely aligned with development of the design for a baffle system to control risks from errant projectiles. DOE 5480.16 requires either an RAR or a safety analysis report (SAR) for live-fire ranges. An RAR rather than a SAR was selected in order to gain flexibility to more closely address the safety analysis and conduct of operation needs for a live-fire range in a cost-effective manner.

Cementation studies on various aqueous waste streams at Rocky Flats have shown this technology to be effective for immobilizing the RCRA constituents in the waste. Cementation is also being evaluated for encapsulation of incinerator ash. Experiments will initially evaluate a surrogate ash waste using a Taguchi experimental design to optimize the cement formulation and waste loading levels for this application. Variables of waste loading, fly ash additions, water/cement ratio, and cement type will be tested at three levels each during the course of this work. Tests will finally be conducted on actual waste using the optimized cement formulation developed from this testing. This progression of tests will evaluate the effectiveness of cement encapsulation for this waste stream without generating any additional wastes.

One of the major waste streams at the Idaho National Laboratory (INEL) is a combination of the Rocky Flats Plant 1st and 2nd stage sludges (hydrated metal oxides or H-series), which constitutes about 20 wt % of the buried waste. A similar mass fraction is in interim storage. The buried waste is commingled with about five times as much soil that has become contaminated as the containers have deteriorated. The purpose of this paper is to report on waste form property variations of the H-series waste melted with various fractions of soil, plus volatile and hazardous metals and transuranic surrogates. Optimally, the waste form will minimize the bulk leach rate, maximize the volume reduction, minimize the additives needed, and stabilize the transuranic nuclides. Topics to be discussed include the input and final compositions, the melting and crystallization processes, the test results, and conclusions.

Certifies Rocky Flats Cleanup "Complete" DOE Certifies Rocky Flats Cleanup "Complete" December 8, 2005 - 4:45pm Addthis Golden, CO - Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell announced today that the environmental cleanup of the former Rocky Flats site has been certified complete by the U.S. Department of Energy. Certification marks the final step in the DOE's successful effort to clean up and eventually turn over the former weapons production site for use as a National Wildlife

This report has the following articles: Nuclear waste--a long-term national problem; Spent nuclear fuel; High-level radioactive waste; Radioactivity and the environment; Current storage methods; Disposal options; U.S. policy on nuclear waste; The focus on Yucca Mountain; The purpose and scope of the Yucca Mountain Project; The approach for permanently disposing of waste; The scientific studies at Yucca Mountain; The proposed design for a repository at Yucca Mountain; Natural and engineered barriers would work together to isolate waste; Meticulous science and technology to protect people and the environment; Licensing a repository; Transporting waste to a permanent repository; The Environmental Impact Statement for a repository; Current status of the Yucca Mountain Project; and Further information available on the Internet.

At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), MSE Technology Applications, Inc. (MSE) evaluated various commercially available sorbents to solidify unidentified laboratory liquids from Rocky Flats that are stored at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The liquids are a collection of laboratory wastes that were generated from various experiments and routine analytical laboratory activities carried out at Rocky Flats. The liquids are in bottles discovered inside of buried waste drums being exhumed from the subsurface disposal area at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) by the contractor, CH2M Hill Washington International (CWI). Free liquids are unacceptable at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), and some of these liquids cannot be returned to the retrieval pit. Stabilization of the liquids into a solid mass will allow these materials to be sent to an appropriate disposal location. The selected sorbent or sorbent combinations should produce a stabilized mass that is capable of withstanding conditions similar to those experienced during storage, shipping, and burial. The final wasteform should release less than 1% liquid by volume per the WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). The absence or presence of free liquid in the solidified waste-forms was detected when tested by SW-846, Method 9095B, Paint Filter Free Liquids, and the amount of liquid released from the wasteform was determined by SW-846, Method 9096, Liquid Release Test. Reactivity testing was also conducted on the solidified laboratory liquids. (authors)

Preliminary Notice of Violation issued to Safe Sites of Colorado related to Radiological and Work Control Deficiencies associated with Two Radiological Release Events at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, (EA-96-05)

The Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) routinely measures meteorological data to support Air Quality and Emergency Response activities. These data help to characterize the transport and dispersion of actual or potential airborne releases of radionuclides or other hazardous materials.

As part of its management of the Yucca Mountain project, the Department of Energy maintained several information centers to provide public access to information about the status of the Yucca Mountain project. Those information centers contained numerous displays, historical information, and served as the location for the Department's outreach activities. As the Department of Energy dealt with reduced budgets in 2009 following the Obama Administration's intent to terminate the program, it shut down its information centers. Nye County considered it important to maintain a public information center where people would be able to find information about what was happening with the Yucca Mountain project. Initially the Nye County assumed responsibility for the information center in Pahrump; eventually the County made a decision to move that information center into an expansion of the existing Pahrump Valley Museum. Nye County undertook an effort to update the information about the Yucca Mountain project and modernize the displays. A parallel effort to create a source of historical information where people could find out about the Yucca Mountain project was undertaken. To accompany the Yucca Mountain exhibits in the Pahrump Valley Museum, Nye County also sponsored a series of interviews to document, through oral histories, as much information about the Yucca Mountain project as could be found in these interviews. The paper presents an overview of the Yucca Mountain exhibits in the Pahrump Valley Museum, and the accompanying oral histories. An important conclusion that can be drawn from the interviews is that construction of a repository in Nevada should have been conceptualized as but the first step in transforming the economy of central Nevada by turning part of the Nevada National Security Site and adjoining area into a world-class energy production and energy research center. (authors)

The objective of the interim response action at the lime settling basins is to mitigate the threat of releases from the basins. The proposed IRA consists of: (1) relocation of sludge material to the settling basin; (2) construction of a 360 degree subsurface barrier around the basins; (3) construction of a soil and vegetative cover over the material; and (4) installation of a ground water extraction system. This decision document provides summaries of: (1) alternative technologies considered, (2) significant events leading to the initiation of the IRA, (3) the IRA Project, and (4) applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements, standards, criteria, and limitations (ARAR`s) associated with the program.

The following are included: a summary of the state projects, a summary of findings, public outreach, and a description of the major conclusions and recommendations. The commercialization activities carried out by the state teams are described for Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. (MHR)

This report is an assessment of the content codes associated with transuranic waste shipped from the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado, to INEL. The primary objective of this document is to characterize and describe the transuranic wastes shipped to INEL from Rocky Flats by item description code (IDC). This information will aid INEL in determining if the waste meets the waste acceptance criteria (WAC) of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The waste covered by this content code assessment was shipped from Rocky Flats between 1985 and 1989. These years coincide with the dates for information available in the Rocky Flats Solid Waste Information Management System (SWIMS). The majority of waste shipped during this time was certified to the existing WIPP WAC. This waste is referred to as precertified waste. Reassessment of these precertified waste containers is necessary because of changes in the WIPP WAC. To accomplish this assessment, the analytical and process knowledge available on the various IDCs used at Rocky Flats were evaluated. Rocky Flats sources for this information include employee interviews, SWIMS, Transuranic Waste Certification Program, Transuranic Waste Inspection Procedure, Backlog Waste Baseline Books, WIPP Experimental Waste Characterization Program (headspace analysis), and other related documents, procedures, and programs. Summaries are provided of: (a) certification information, (b) waste description, (c) generation source, (d) recovery method, (e) waste packaging and handling information, (f) container preparation information, (g) assay information, (h) inspection information, (i) analytical data, and (j) RCRA characterization.

This project plan for Phase II summarizes the design of a project to complete analysis of offsite Emergency Planning Zones (EPZ) for the Rocky Flats Plant. Federal, state, and local governments develop emergency plans for facilities that may affect the public in the event of an accidental release of nuclear or hazardous materials. One of the purposes of these plans is to identify EPZs where actions might be necessary to protect public health. Public protective actions include sheltering, evacuation, and relocation. Agencies use EPZs to develop response plans and to determine needed resources. The State of Colorado, with support from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Rocky Flats contractors, has developed emergency plans and EPZs for the Rocky Flats Plant periodically beginning in 1980. In Phase II, Interim Emergency Planning Zones Analysis, Maximum Credible Accident'' we will utilize the current Rocky Flats maximum credible accident (MCA), existing dispersion methodologies, and upgraded dosimetry methodologies to update the radiological EPZs. Additionally, we will develop recommendations for EPZs for nonradiological hazardous materials releases and evaluate potential surface water releases from the facility. This project will allow EG G Rocky Flats to meet current commitments to the state of Colorado and make steady, tangible improvements in our understanding of risk to offsite populations during potential emergencies at the Rocky Flats Plant. 8 refs., 5 figs., 4 tabs.

The Rocky Flats Plant is developing a comprehensive planning strategy that will support transition of the Rocky Flats Plant from a nuclear weapons production facility to site cleanup and final disposition. Final disposition of the Rocky Flats Plant materials and contaminants requires consideration of the interrelated nature of sitewide problems, such as material movement and disposition, facility and land use endstates, costs, relative risks to workers and the public, and waste disposition. Comparative Risk Analysis employs both incremental risk and cumulative risk evaluations to compare risk from postulated options or endstates. Comparative Risk Analysis is an analytical tool for the Rocky Flats Plant Integrated Project Planning which can assist a decision-maker in evaluating relative risks among proposed remedial options or future endstates. It addresses the cumulative risks imposed by the Rocky Flats Plant and provides risk information, both human health and ecological, to aid in reducing unnecessary resource and monetary expenditures. Currently, there is no approved methodology that aggregates various risk estimates. Along with academic and field expert review, the Comparative Risk Analysis methodology is being reviewed and refined. A Rocky Flats Plant Risk Assessment Focus Group was established. Stakeholder involvement in the development provides an opportunity to influence the information delivered to a decision-maker. This paper discusses development of the methodology.

DOE's Rocky Flats Site in Colorado is a former nuclear weapons production facility that began operations in the early 1950's. Because of releases of hazardous substances to the environment, the federally owned property and adjacent offsite areas were placed on the CERCLA National Priorities List in 1989. The final remedy was selected in 2006. Engineered components of the remedy include four groundwater treatment systems that were installed before closure as CERCLA-accelerated actions. Two of the systems, the Mound Site Plume Treatment System and the East Trenches Plume Treatment System, remove low levels of volatile organic compounds using zero-valent iron media, thereby reducing the loading of volatile organic compounds in surface water resulting from the groundwater pathway. However, the zero-valent iron treatment does not reliably reduce all volatile organic compounds to consistently meet water quality goals. While adding additional zero-valent iron media capacity could improve volatile organic compound removal capability, installation of a solar powered air-stripper has proven an effective treatment optimization in further reducing volatile organic compound concentrations. A comparison of the air stripper to the alternative of adding additional zero-valent iron capacity to improve Mound Site Plume Treatment System and East Trenches Plume Treatment System treatment based on several key sustainable remediation aspects indicates the air stripper is also more 'environmentally friendly'. These key aspects include air pollutant emissions, water quality, waste management, transportation, and costs. (authors)

A removal method for plutonium and uranium has been tested at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). This alternative treatment technology is applicable to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) organics (mainly used pump oil) contaminated with actinides. In our studies, greater than 70% removal of the actinides was achieved. The technology is based on contacting the oil with a sorbent powder consisting of a surface modified mesoporous material. The SAMMS (Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Support) technology was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for removal and stabilization of RCRA (i.e., lead, mercury, cadmium, silver, etc.) and actinides in water and for removal of mercury from organic solvents [1, 2]. The SAMMS material is based on self-assembly of functionalized monolayers on mesoporous oxide surfaces. The unique mesoporous oxide support provides a high surface area, thereby enhancing the metal-loading capacity. The testing described in this report was conducted on a small scale but larger-scale testing of the technology has been performed on mercury-contaminated oil without difficulty [3].

The Supercompaction and Repackaging Facility (SaRF) for processing Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) generated transuranic (TRU) waste was conceptualized and has received funding of $1.9 million. The SaRF is scheduled for completion in September, 1989 and will eliminate a labor intensive manual repackaging effort. The semi-automated glovebox-contained SaRF is being designed to process 63,500 cubic feet of TRU waste annually for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Waste will enter the process through an airlock or drum dump and the combustible waste will be precompacted. Drums will be pierced to allow air to escape during supercompaction. Each drum will be supercompacted and transferred to a load out station for final packaging into a 55 gallon drum. Preliminary evaluations indicate an average 5 to 1 volume reduction, 2 to 1 increased processing rate, and 50% reduction in manpower. The SaRF will produce a significant annual savings in labor, material, shipping, and burial costs over the projected 15 year life, and also improve operator safety, reduce personnel exposure, and improve the quality of the waste product. 1 ref., 10 figs., 3 tabs.

Project FEVER (Fostering Electric Vehicle Expansion in the Rockies) is a part of the Clean Cities Community Readiness and Planning for Plug-in Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure Funding Opportunity funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the state of Colorado. Tasks undertaken in this project include: Electric Vehicle Grid Impact Assessment; Assessment of Electrical Permitting and Inspection for EV/EVSE (electric vehicle/electric vehicle supply equipment); Assessment of Local Ordinances Pertaining to Installation of Publicly Available EVSE;Assessment of Building Codes for EVSE; EV Demand and Energy/Air Quality Impacts Assessment; State and Local Policy Assessment; EV Grid Impact Minimization Efforts; Unification and Streamlining of Electrical Permitting and Inspection for EV/EVSE; Development of BMP for Local EVSE Ordinances; Development of BMP for Building Codes Pertaining to EVSE; Development of Colorado-Specific Assessment for EV/EVSE Energy/Air Quality Impacts; Development of State and Local Policy Best Practices; Create Final EV/EVSE Readiness Plan; Develop Project Marketing and Communications Elements; Plan and Schedule In-person Education and Outreach Opportunities.

The scope of this project is to determine the feasibility of washing plutonium-containing combustible residues using ultrasonic disruption as a method for dislodging particulate. Removal of plutonium particulate and, to a lesser extent, solubilized plutonium from the organic substrate should substantially reduce potential fire, explosion or radioactive release hazards due to radiolytic hydrogen generation or high flammability. Tests were conducted on polypropylene filters which were used as pre-filters in the rich-residue ion-exchange process at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility. These filters are similar to the Ful-Flo{reg_sign} cartridges used at Rocky Flats that make up a substantial fraction of the combustible residues with the highest hazard rating. Batch experiments were run on crushed filter material in order to determine the amount of Pu removed by stirring, stirring and sonication, and stirring and sonication with the introduction of Pu-chelating water-soluble polymers or surfactants. Significantly more Pu is removed using sonication and sonication with chelators than is removed with mechanical stirring alone.

The Kaiser-Hill Company, LLC has the responsibility for closure activities at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). One of the challenges faced for closure is the disposition of radiologically contaminated gloveboxes. Evaluation of the disposition options for gloveboxes included a detailed analysis of available treatment capabilities, disposal facilities, and lifecycle costs. The Kaiser-Hill Company, LLC followed several processes in determining how the gloveboxes would be managed for disposition. Currently, multiple disposition paths have been chosen to accommodate the needs of the varying styles and conditions of the gloveboxes, meet the needs of the decommissioning team, and to best manage lifecycle costs. Several challenges associated with developing a disposition path that addresses both the radiological and RCRA concerns as well as offering the most cost-effective solution were encountered. These challenges included meeting the radiological waste acceptance criteria of available disposal facilities, making a RCRA determination, evaluating treatment options and costs, addressing void requirements associated with disposal, and identifying packaging and transportation options. The varying disposal facility requirements affected disposition choices. Facility conditions that impacted decisions included radiological and chemical waste acceptance criteria, physical requirements, and measurement for payment options. The facility requirements also impacted onsite activities including management strategies, decontamination activities, and life-cycle cost.

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has the renewable resources and the opportunity to become a national leader in renewable energy production through its local and commercial-scale solar developments due to its proximity to key interconnections in the Four Corners area and interest from various companies that can fund such projects.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, submitted a license application for construction authorization of a deep geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in June of 2008. The license application is currently under review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. However,on March 3, 2010 the DOE filed a motion requesting withdrawal of the license application. With the withdrawal request and the development of the Blue Ribbon Commission to seek alternative strategies for disposing of spent fuel, the status of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain is uncertain. What is certain is that spent nuclear fuel (SNF) will continue to be generated and some long-lived components of the SNF will eventually need a disposition path(s). Strategies for the back end of the fuel cycle will continue to be developed and need to include the insights from the experience gained during the development of the Yucca Mountain license application. Detailed studies were performed and considerable progress was made in many key areas in terms of increased understanding of relevant phenomena and issues regarding geologic disposal of SNF. This paper reviews selected technical studies performed in support of the disposal criticality analysis licensing basis and the use of burnup credit. Topics include assembly misload analysis, isotopic and criticality validation, commercial reactor critical analyses, loading curves, alternative waste package and criticality control studies, radial burnup data and effects, and implementation of a conservative application model in the criticality probabilistic evaluation as well as other information that is applicable to operations regarding spent fuel outside the reactor. This paper summarizes the work and significant accomplishments in these areas and provides a resource for future, related activities.

Radioactive legacy wastes or residues are currently being stored on numerous Sites around the former Department of Energy`s (DOE) Nuclear Weapons Complex. Since most of the operating facilities were shut down and have not operated since before the declared end to the Cold War in 1993, the historical method for treating these residues no longer exists. The risk associated with continued storage of these residues will dramatically increase with time. Thus, the DOE was directed by the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board in its Recommendation 94-1 to address and stabilize these residues and established an eight year time frame for doing so. There are only two options available to respond to this requirement: (1) restart existing facilities to treat and package the residues for disposal or (2) transport the residues to another operating facility within the Complex where they can be treated and packaged for disposal. This paper focuses on one such residue type, pyrochemical salts, produced at one Complex site, the Rocky Flats Plant located northwest of Denver, Colorado. One option for treating the salts is their shipment to Los Alamos, New Mexico, for handling at the Plutonium Facility. The safe transportation of these salts can be accomplished at present with several shipping containers including a DOT 6M, a DOE 9968, Type A or Type B quantity 55-gallon drum overpacks, or even the TRUPACT II. The tradeoffs between each container is examined with the conclusion that none of the available shipping containers is fully satisfactory. Thus, the advantageous aspects of each container must be utilized in an integrated and efficient way to effectively manage the risk involved. 1 fig.

The Arbuckle Mountains, named for Brigadier General Matthew Arbuckle, are located in south-central Oklahoma. The formations that comprise the Arbuckle Mountains have been extensively studied for hydrocarbon source rock and reservoir rock characteristics that can be applied to the subsurface in the adjacent Anadarko and Ardmore basins. Numerous reports and guidebooks have been written concerning the Arbuckle Mountains. A few important general publications are provided in the list of selected references. The purpose of this handout is to provide general information on the geology of the Arbuckle Mountains and specific information on the four field trip stops, adapted from the literature. The four stops were at: (1) Sooner Rock and Sand Quarry; (2) Woodford Shale; (3) Hunton Anticline and Hunton Quarry; and (4) Tar Sands of Sulfur Area. As part of this report, two papers are included for more detail: Paleomagnetic dating of basinal fluid migration, base-metal mineralization, and hydrocarbon maturation in the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma and Laminated black shale-bedded chert cyclicity in the Woodford Formation, southern Oklahoma.

The Former Radiation Worker Medical Surveillance Program at Rocky Flats was conducted in Arvada, CO, by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education under DOE Contract DE-AC05-00OR22750. Objectives of the program were to obtain information on the value of medical surveillance among at-risk former radiation workers and to provide long-term internal radiation dosimetry information to the scientific community. This program provided the former radiation workers of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (formerly Rocky Flats Plant) an opportunity to receive follow-up medical monitoring and a re-evaluation of their internal radiation dose. The former Rocky Flats radiation worker population is distinctive because it was a reasonably stable work force that received occupational exposures, at times substantial, over several decades. This report reflects the summation of health outcomes, statistical analyses, and dose assessment information on former Rocky Flats radiation workers to the date of study termination as of March 2004.

This presentation briefly outlines a cleanup program at a Rocky Flats site through viewgraphs and an executive summary. Exposure pathway analyses to be performed are identified, and decontamination levels are listed for open space and office worker exposure areas. The executive summary very briefly describes the technical approach, RESRAD computer code to be used for analyses, recommendations for exposure levels, and application of action levels to multiple radionuclide contamination. Determination of action levels for surface and subsurface soils, based on radiation doses, is discussed. 1 tab.

The liquid and solid residues continue to be a concern at Rocky Flats, primarily due to safety aspects of long-term storage and of the need for processing them into a form for ultimate disposal. Currently, Rocky Flats is processing the low-level solutions from bottles and tanks by direct cementation for storage and disposal. Plans for actinide precipitation of the high-level solutions are being finalized with an anticipated completion date of 2 to 3 yr. The solid residues present a more difficult challenge because of the numerous forms that these exist. Rocky Flats is developing several strategies to handle these materials for safe long-term storage and eventual disposal.

The Rocky Flats Plant is developing, with active stakeholder participation, a comprehensive planning strategy that will support transition of the Rocky Flats Plant from a nuclear weapons production facility to site cleanup and final disposition. Final disposition of the Rocky Flats Plant materials and contaminants requires consideration of the interrelated nature of sitewide problems, such as material movement and disposition, facility and land use endstates, costs, relative risks to workers and the public, and waste disposition. Comparative risk analysis employs both incremental risk and cumulative risk evaluations to compare risks from postulated options or end states. These postulated options or end states can be various remedial alternatives, or future endstate uses of federal land.

The Rocky Flats Plant is developing, with active stakeholder a comprehensive planning strategy that will support transition of the Rocky Flats Plant from a nuclear weapons production facility to site cleanup and final disposition. Final disposition of the Rocky Flats Plant materials and contaminants requires consideration of the interrelated nature of sitewide problems, such as material movement and disposition, facility and land use endstates, costs relative risks to workers and the public, and waste disposition. Comparative Risk Analysis employs both incremental risk and cumulative risk evaluations to compare risks from postulated options or endstates. These postulated options or endstates can be various remedial alternatives, or future endstate uses of federal agency land. Currently, there does not exist any approved methodology that aggregates various incremental risk estimates. Comparative Risk Analysis has been developed to aggregate various incremental risk estimates to develop a site cumulative risk estimate. This paper discusses development of the Comparative Risk Analysis methodology, stakeholder participation and lessons learned from these challenges.

The former Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado began operations as part of the nation's nuclear weapons complex in the early 1950's. By the 1980's the associated heavily industrialized area covered approximately 1.2 km{sup 2} (300 acres) and was surrounded by an approximately 25.3 km{sup 2} (6,245 acre) security buffer zone. The federally owned property and adjacent offsite areas were placed on the CERCLA National Priority List in 1989. To complete closure, all buildings and other structures that composed the Rocky Flats industrial complex were removed from the surface, but remnants remain in the subsurface. Contouring and grading to return the surface to approximate conditions that were present prior to the plant's construction was completed in 2005. A goal of the final land configuration was to provide long-term surface and subsurface land stability. Several instances of localized surface subsidence or instability have occurred since the final configuration. The localized nature and the relatively small areas of observed subsidence and instability indicate that, overall, the final configuration is performing well, but responses to these occurrences and the observations that followed may be useful in planning for the closure and designing the final land configuration and post-closure monitoring at other sites. (authors)

Plutonium contamination of soils around Rocky Flats Environmental & Technology Site, near Golden, Colorado, resulted from past outdoor storage practices and subsequent remobilization due to inadequate cleanup practices. Until now human-health risk assessment has not been performed because of a lack of sufficient information regarding the spatial extent of {sup 239+240}Pu in soils. The purpose of this work was to elucidate the extent of plutonium contamination in surface soils, and to assess the uncertainty associated with the spatial distribution of {sup 239+240}Pu around Rocky Flats Environmental & Technology Site.

After several years of intensive effort to address radioactive pollution threatening nearby communities, officials at the Energy Department`s Rocky Flats plant now are turning their attention to the site`s plutonium buildings and finding a cleanup challenge of equally daunting proportions. Containing and mopping up off-site soil and water contamination remains the first priority at the Colorado facility, but site environmental managers say the huge volumes of plutonium and associated radioactive waste stored in Rocky Flats` aging building pose increasingly urgent safety concerns.

At the Rocky Flats site, the building 889 decommissioning project was the first large-scale decommissioning project of a radiologically contaminated facility at Rocky Flats. The scope consisted of removal of all equipment and utility systems from the interior of the building, decontamination of interior building surfaces, and the demolition of the facility to ground level. Details of the project management plan, including schedule, engineering, cost, characterization methodologies, decontamination techniques, radiological control requirements, and demolition methods, are provided in this article. 1 fig., 3 tabs.

This Charter provides a basis for a cooperative, interagency effort to evaluate the Terrain-Responsive Atmospheric Code for emergency response and emergency planning for the Rocky Flats Plant. This document establishes the foundation for the project entitled, Evaluation of an Emergency Response Model for the Rocky Flats Plant'' (to be referred to as the Project). This document meets the following objectives: Identify the Project; establish the project management structure, organizational responsibilities, and organizational commitments for reaching the goals of the Project, and identify a process for model revision and revelation for acceptance. 2 figs.

The Ute Mountain Ute tribe in southwestern Colorado brings in considerable income from its cattle-ranching operation, with a herd of nearly 2,000 head. Since annual rainfall is only 10-15 inches and the only stream is dry part of the year, the tribe must rely on groundwater for cattle watering.

Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nevada, is a potential site for a permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste in Miocene ash flow tuff. The Yucca Mountain controlled area occupies approximately 98 km{sup 2} that includes the potential repository site. The Yucca Mountain controlled area is located within the southwestern Nevada volcanic field, a large area of Miocene volcanism that includes at least four major calderas or cauldrons. It is sited on a remnant of a Neogene volcanic plateau that was centered around the Timber Mountain caldera complex. The Yucca Mountain region contains many occurrences of valuable or potentially valuable industrial minerals, including deposits with past or current production of construction aggregate, borate minerals, clay, building stone, fluorspar, silicate, and zeolites. The existence of these deposits in the region and the occurrence of certain mineral materials at Yucca Mountain, indicate that the controlled area may have potential for industrial mineral and rock deposits. Consideration of the industrial mineral potential within the Yucca Mountain controlled area is mainly based on petrographic and lithologic studies of samples from drill holes in Yucca Mountain. Clay minerals, zeolites, fluorite, and barite, as minerals that are produced economically in Nevada, have been identified in samples from drill holes in Yucca Mountain.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Rocky Flats Site (the Site), near Denver, Colorado, is a former nuclear weapons facility that was constructed beginning in 1951. With the end of the Cold War, the Site was cleaned up and closed in 2005. Four gravity-driven groundwater treatment systems were installed during cleanup, and their continued operation was incorporated into the final remedy for the Site. All utilities, including electrical power, were removed as part of this closure, so all Site electrical power needs are now met with small solar-powered systems. The Mound Site Plume Treatment System (MSPTS) was installed in 1998 as an innovative system based on zero-valent iron (ZVI). Groundwater flow from the Mound source area containing elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily in the tetrachloroethene (PCE)-trichloroethene (TCE) family of chlorinated solvents, is intercepted by a collection trench and routed to twin ZVI treatment cells. Later, in 2005, remediation of VOC-contaminated soils at a second up-gradient source area included adding an electron donor to the backfill to help stimulate biodegradation. This reduced concentrations of primary constituents but caused down-gradient groundwater to contain elevated levels of recalcitrant degradation byproducts, particularly cis-1,2-dichloroethene and vinyl chloride. A gravel drain installed as part of the 2005 remediation directs contaminated groundwater from this second source area to the MSPTS for treatment. This additional contaminant load, coupled with correspondingly reduced residence time within the ZVI media due to the increased flow rate, resulted in reduced treatment effectiveness. Elevated concentrations of VOCs were then detected in MSPTS effluent, as well as in surface water at the downstream performance monitoring location for the MSPTS. Subsequent consultations with the Site regulators led to the decision to add a polishing component to reduce residual VOCs in MSPTS effluent

The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) is a Department of Energy facility located approximately 16 miles northwest of Denver, Colorado. Processing and fabrication of nuclear weapons components occurred at Rocky Flats from 1952 through 1989. Operations at the Site included the use of several radionuclides, including plutonium-239/240 (Pu), americium-241 (Am), and various uranium (U) isotopes, as well as several types of chlorinated solvents. The historic operations resulted in legacy contamination, including contaminated facilities, process waste lines, buried wastes and surface soil contamination. Decontamination and removal of buildings at the site was completed in late 2005, culminating more than ten years of active environmental remediation work. The Corrective Action Decision/Record of Decision was subsequently approved in 2006, signifying regulatory approval and closure of the site. The use of RFETS as a National Wildlife Refuge is scheduled to be in full operation by 2012. To develop a plan for remediating different types of radionuclide contaminants present in the RFETS environment required understanding the different environmental transport pathways for the various actinides. Developing this understanding was the primary objective of the Actinide Migration Evaluation (AME) project. Findings from the AME studies were used in the development of RFETS remediation strategies. The AME project focused on issues of actinide behavior and mobility in surface water, groundwater, air, soil and biota at RFETS. For the purposes of the AME studies, actinide elements addressed included Pu, Am, and U. The AME program, funded by DOE, brought together personnel with a broad range of relevant expertise in technical investigations. The AME advisory panel identified research investigations and approaches that could be used to solve issues related to actinide migration at the Site. An initial step of the AME was to develop a conceptual model to provide a

This report documents the 1988 environmental surveillance program at the Rocky Flats Plant. The report includes an evaluation of plant compliance with all appropriate guides, environmental limits, and standards. Potential radiation dose to the public was calculated from average radionuclide concentrations measured at the plant property boundary and in surrounding communities. 37 refs., 14 figs., 32 tabs.

The Department of Energy, Rocky Flats Office, Safety and Health Group, Health Physics Team (HPT) is responsible for oversight of the Radiation Protection and Health Physics Program (RPHP) of the Integrating Management Contractor (IMC), Kaiser-Hill (K-H) operations at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). As of 1 January 1996 the Rocky Flats Plant employed 300 DOE and 4,300 contractor personnel (K-H and their subcontractors). WSI is a subcontractor and provides plant security. To accomplish the RPHP program oversight HPT personnel developed a systematic methodology for performing a functional RPHP Assessment. The initial process included development of a flow diagram identifying all programmatic elements and assessment criteria documents. Formulation of plans for conducting interviews and performance of assessments constituted the second major effort. The generation of assessment reports was the final step, based on the results of this process. This assessment will be a 6 person-year effort, over the next three years. This process is the most comprehensive assessment of any Radiation Protection and Health Physics (RPHP) Program ever performed at Rocky Flats. The results of these efforts will establish a baseline for future RPHP Program assessments at RFETS. This methodology has been well-received by contractor personnel and creates no Privacy Act violations or other misunderstandings.

This paper details the development of the Rocky Flats Integrated Closure Project Baseline - an innovative project management effort undertaken to ensure proactive management of the Rocky Flats Closure Contract in support of the Department's goal for achieving the safe closure of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) in December 2006. The accelerated closure of RFETS is one of the most prominent projects within the Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management program. As the first major former weapons plant to be remediated and closed, it is a first-of-kind effort requiring the resolution of multiple complex technical and institutional challenges. Most significantly, the closure of RFETS is dependent upon the shipment of all special nuclear material and wastes to other DOE sites. The Department is actively working to strengthen project management across programs, and there is increasing external interest in this progress. The development of the Rocky Flats Integrated Closure Project Baseline represents a groundbreaking and cooperative effort to formalize the management of such a complex project across multiple sites and organizations. It is original in both scope and process, however it provides a useful precedent for the other ongoing project management efforts within the Environmental Management program.

The U.S. Department of Energy developed this statement to evaluate the site specific environmental impacts of continuing to conduct nuclear weapons production activities at the Rocky Flats Plant; alternatives for the conduct of such activities; and environmental impacts of the U.S. policy to produce nuclear weapons.

Current plans for stabilizing and storing the plutonium at Rocky Flats Plant fail to put the material in a form suitable for disposition and resistant to proliferation. Vitrification should be considered as an alternate technology. The vitrification should begin with a small-scale pilot plant.

The U.S. Department of Energy is engaged in a suitability study for a potential geological repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the containment and storage of commercially generated spent fuel and defense high-level nuclear waste. There is growing recognition of the role that biotic factors could play in this repository, either directly through microbially induced corrosion (MIC), or indirectly by altering the chemical environment or contributing to the transport of radionuclides. As a first step toward describing and predicting these processes, a workshop was held on April 10-12, 1995, in Lafayette, California. The immediate aims of the workshop were: (1) To identify microbially related processes relevant to the design of a radioactive waste repository under conditions similar to those at Yucca Mountain. (2) To determine parameters that are critical to the evaluation of a disturbed subterranean environment. (3) To define the most effective means of investigating the factors thus identified.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA), DOE/EA -- 1060, for the consolidation, processing, and interim storage of Category I and II special nuclear material (SNM) in Building 371 at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (hereinafter referred to as Rocky Flats or Site), Golden, Colorado. The scope of the EA included alternatives for interim storage including the no action alternative, the construction of a new facility for interim storage at Rocky Flats, and shipment to other DOE facilities for interim storage.

Neutron detectors and control panels transferred from the Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) were recalibrated and retested for redeployment to the CEF. Testing and calibration were successful with no failure to any equipment. Detector sensitivity was tested at a TRIGA reactor, and the response to thermal neutron flux was satisfactory. MCNP calculated minimum fission yield ({approx} 2 x 10{sup 15} fissions) was applied to determine the thermal flux at selected detector positions at the CEF. Thermal flux levels were greater than 6.39 x 10{sup 6} (n/cm{sup 2}-sec), which was about four orders of magnitude greater than the minimum alarm flux. Calculations of detector survivable distances indicate that, to be out of lethal area, a detector needs to be placed greater than 15 ft away from a maximum credible source. MCNP calculated flux/dose results were independently verified by COG. CAAS calibration and the testing confirmed that the RFP CAAS system is performing its functions as expected. New criteria for the CAAS detector placement and 12-rad zone boundaries at the CEF are established. All of the CAAS related documents and hardware have been transferred from LLNL to NSTec for installation at the CEF high bay areas.

During Phase 3 of the EPZ project, a sitewide analysis will be performed applying a spectrum-of-accidents approach to both radiological and nonradiological hazardous materials release scenarios. This analysis will include the MCA but will be wider in scope and will produce options for the State of Colorado for establishing a bounding EPZ that is intended to more comprehensively update the interim, preliminary EPZ developed in Phase 2. EG&G will propose use of a hazards assessment methodology that is consistent with the DOE Emergency Management Guide for Hazards Assessments and other methods required by DOE orders. This will include hazards, accident, safety, and risk analyses. Using this methodology, EG&G will develop technical analyses for a spectrum of accidents. The analyses will show the potential effects from the spectrum of accidents on the offsite population together with identification of offsite vulnerable zones and areas of concern. These analyses will incorporate state-of-the-art technology for accident analysis, atmospheric plume dispersion modeling, consequence analysis, and the application of these evaluations to the general public population at risk. The analyses will treat both radiological and nonradiological hazardous materials and mixtures of both released accidentally to the atmosphere. DOE/RFO will submit these results to the State of Colorado for the State`s use in determining offsite emergency planning zones for the Rocky Flats Plant. In addition, the results will be used for internal Rocky Flats Plant emergency planning.

Site visits were made to DOE beryllium handling facilities at the Rocky Flats Plant; Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, LLNL; as well as to the AWE Cardiff Facility. Available historical data from each facility describing its beryllium control program were obtained and summarized in this report. The AWE Cardiff Facility computerized Be personal and area air-sampling database was obtained and a preliminary evaluation was conducted. Further validation and documentation of this database will be very useful in estimating worker Be. exposure as well as in identifying the source potential for a variety of Be fabrication activities. Although all of the Be control programs recognized the toxicity of Be and its compounds, their established control procedures differed significantly. The Cardiff Facility, which was designed for only Be work, implemented a very strict Be control program that has essentially remained unchanged, even to today. LLNL and the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant also implemented a strict Be control program, but personal sampling was not used until the mid 1980s to evaluate worker exposure. The Rocky Flats plant implemented significantly less controls on beryllium processing than the three previous facilities. In addition, records were less available, management and industrial hygiene staff turned over regularly, and less control was evident from a management perspective.

Yucca Mountain Press Conference Yucca Mountain Press Conference June 3, 2008 - 12:51pm Addthis Remarks as Prepared for Delivery for Secretary Bodman Thank you all for being here. I'm pleased to announce that this morning the Department of Energy submitted a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking authorization to build America's first national repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. We are confident that the

This EIS evaluates the potentialÂ alternatives and impacts associated with a proposal toÂ process certain plutonium residues and all of the scrub alloy currently stored at RockyÂ Flats. While ongoing...

A key goal of the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement (RFCA) signed in July of 1996 was to provide a seamless marriage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (and other media specific programs) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the implementing agencies of each. This paper examines the two years since the signing of RFCA and identifies the successes, failures, and stresses of the marriage. RFCA has provided an excellent vehicle for regulatory and substantive progress at the Department of Energy`s Rocky Flats facility. The key for a fully successful marriage is to build on the accomplishments to date and to continually improve the internal and external systems and relationships. To date, the parties can be proud of both the substantial accomplishment of substantive environmental work and the regulatory systems that have enabled the work.

During the winter of 1990--91, North American Weather Consultants (NAWC) and its subcontractor, ABB Environmental Services (ABBES), conducted a Winter Validation Study (WVS) for EG&G Rocky Flats involving 12 separate tracer experiments conducted between February 3 and February 19, 1991. Six experiments were conducted during nighttime hours and four experiments were conducted during daytime hours. In addition, there was one day/night and one night/day transitional experiment conducted. The primary purpose of the WVS was to gather data to further the approval process for the Terrain Responsive Atmospheric Code (TRAC). TRAC is an atmospheric dispersion model developed and operated at the Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) north of Denver, Colorado. A secondary objective was to gather data that will serve to validate the TRAC model physics.

The information in this manual is being presented to complete the documentation of the fluidized-bed incineration (FBI) process development at the Rocky Flats Plant. The information pertains to the 82-kg/hour demonstration unit at the Rocky Flats Plant. This document continues the presentation of design reference material in the aeas of equipment drawings, space requirements, and unit costs. In addition, appendices contain an operating procedure and an operational safety analysis of the process. The cost figures presented are based on 1978 dollars and have not been converted to a current dollar value. Also, the cost of modifications are not included, since they would be insignificant if they were incorporated into a new installation.

A tomographic gamma-ray scanning (TGS) instrument was deployed at Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) to assist with the deactivation of Building 886. Many 208-L drums containing waste contaminated with highly enriched uranium were measured in order to certify these sites for shipment and disposal. This project marks a successful cooperation between RFETS and Los Alamos National Laboratory and is the first major field experience using TGS technology to assay uranium.

The U.S. Department of Energy has terminated the Yucca Mountain repository project. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has indefinitely suspended the Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding. The presidentially-appointed Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America's Nuclear Future is preparing a report, due in January 2012, to the Secretary of Energy on recommendations for a new national nuclear waste management and disposal program. The BRC Draft Report published in July 2011 provides a compelling critique of the past three decades failed efforts in the United States to site storage and disposal facilities for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). However, the BRC Draft Report fails to provide detailed guidance on how to implement an alternative, successful approach to facility site selection. The comments submitted to the BRC by the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects provide useful details on how the US national nuclear waste program can get beyond the failed Yucca Mountain repository project. A detailed siting process, consisting of legislative elements, procedural elements, and 'rules' for volunteer sites, could meet the objectives of the BRC and the Western Governors Association (WGA), while promoting and protecting the interests of potential host states. The recent termination of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository provides both an opportunity and a need to re-examine the United States' nuclear waste management program. The BRC Draft Report published in July 2011 provides a compelling critique of the past three decades failed efforts in the United States to site storage and disposal facilities for SNF and HLW. It is anticipated that the BRC Final report in January 2012 will recommend a new general course of action, but there will likely continue to be a need for detailed guidance on how to implement an alternative, successful approach to facility site selection. Getting the nation's nuclear waste program back on track

The objective of this report is to fully document technical data and information that have been developed to support offsite emergency planning by the State of Colorado for potential accidents at the Rocky Flats Plant. Specifically, this report documents information and data that will assist the State of Colorado in upgrading its radiological emergency planning zones for Rocky Flats Plant. The Colorado Division of Disaster Emergency Services (DODES) and the Colorado Department of Health (CDH) represent the primary audience for this report. The secondary audience for this document includes the Rocky Flats Plant; federal, State, and local governmental agencies; the scientific community; and the interested public. Because the primary audience has a pre-existing background on the subject, this report assumes some exposure to emergency planning, health physics, and dispersion modeling on the part of the reader. The authors have limited their assumptions of background knowledge as much as possible, recognizing that the topics addressed in the report may be new to some secondary audiences.

This report documents the result of the US Department of Energy`s (DOE) Environment, Safety and Health (ES&H) Progress Assessment of the DOE Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) in Golden, Colorado. The assessment, which was conducted during the period of May 17 through May 28, 1993, included a selective review of the ES&H management systems and programs of the responsible DOE Headquarters Program Offices (Defense Programs (DP) and Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM)), the DOE Rocky Flats Office (RFO), and the site contractor, EG&G Rocky Flats, Inc. (EG&G). Despite the near constant state of flux under which RFP has been required to operate, the Progress Assessment Team has concluded that significant progress has been made in correcting the deficiencies identified in the 1989 Assessment and in responding responsibly to regulations, and DOE directives and guidance that have been issued since that time. The Team concluded that the improvements have been concentrated in the activities associated with plutonium facilities and in regulatory driven programs. Much remains to be done with respect to implementing on a sitewide basis those management systems that anchor an organization`s pursuit of continuous ES&H improvement. Furthermore the Team concluded that the pace of improvement has been constrained by a combination of factors that have limited the site`s ability to manage change in the pursuit of sitewide ES&H excellence.

Rocky shore microbial diversity presents an excellent system to test for microbial habitat specificity or generality, enabling us to decipher how common macrobiota shape microbial community structure. At two coastal locations in the northeast Pacific Ocean, we show that microbial composition was significantly different between inert surfaces, the biogenic surfaces that included rocky shore animals and an alga, and the water column plankton. While all sampled entities had a core of common OTUs, rare OTUs drove differences among biotic and abiotic substrates. For the mussel Mytilus californianus, the shell surface harbored greater alpha diversity compared to internal tissues of the gill and siphon. Strikingly, a 7-year experimental removal of this mussel from tidepools did not significantly alter the microbial community structure of microbes associated with inert surfaces when compared with unmanipulated tidepools. However, bacterial taxa associated with nitrate reduction had greater relative abundance with mussels present, suggesting an impact of increased animal-derived nitrogen on a subset of microbial metabolism. Because the presence of mussels did not affect the structure and diversity of the microbial community on adjacent inert substrates, microbes in this rocky shore environment may be predominantly affected through direct physical association with macrobiota.

Rocky shore microbial diversity presents an excellent system to test for microbial habitat specificity or generality, enabling us to decipher how common macrobiota shape microbial community structure. At two coastal locations in the northeast Pacific Ocean, we show that microbial composition was significantly different between inert surfaces, the biogenic surfaces that included rocky shore animals and an alga, and the water column plankton. While all sampled entities had a core of common OTUs, rare OTUs drove differences among biotic and abiotic substrates. For the mussel Mytilus californianus, the shell surface harbored greater alpha diversity compared to internal tissues of themoreÂ Â» gill and siphon. Strikingly, a 7-year experimental removal of this mussel from tidepools did not significantly alter the microbial community structure of microbes associated with inert surfaces when compared with unmanipulated tidepools. However, bacterial taxa associated with nitrate reduction had greater relative abundance with mussels present, suggesting an impact of increased animal-derived nitrogen on a subset of microbial metabolism. Because the presence of mussels did not affect the structure and diversity of the microbial community on adjacent inert substrates, microbes in this rocky shore environment may be predominantly affected through direct physical association with macrobiota.Â«Â less